Harold Curtice Sanders
Harold Curtice Sanders (1882-1942), founder of Santon
1942 Obituary [1]
HAROLD CURTICE SANDERS died on the 11th April, 1942. Born in Newport (Mon.) on the 26th August, 1882, he was the son of the late Alderman Sanders, who occupied the mayoral chair in 1894-5.
He was educated at the Newport Intermediate School (now the High School for Boys) and chose electrical engineering as a career, in preparation for which he was apprenticed to Messrs. A. G. Arnold and Co. of Newport.
Later, he entered the service of the Newport Corporation Electricity Department as a charge engineer until the early days of the Great War, during which he was in charge of the electrical installation at the shell-making factory at Maesglas.
Always of an inventive turn of mind, it was during those years he designed and made a bread-buttering and slicing machine, and also experimented with and ultimately perfected an electric geyser, for the marketing of which Santon Ltd. was formed in 1918. Other inventions were an electric circulator, a switch plug, a multi-plug and a belt heater. He always gave full consideration to the practical, as well as the theoretical, side of his inventions, and made his own complete models for test before determining final details.
A fearless critic if the occasion warranted, he was always ready to be helpful to those seeking information, particularly so with younger people, in whom he took a very active interest.
He was elected an Associate Member of The Institution in 1920 and a Member in 1926.