Hans Rudolph

Hans Rudolph, born in Frankfurt, Germany, became a mechanical apprentice and attended vocational school there to learn his chosen trade. In October 1923 he emigrated to Rosholt, South Dakota. He helped on his uncle's farm and in September 1924 moved to St. Louis, where he worked in a machine shop. Two years later he was hired by a machine shop in Chicago and he studied electronics, earning a diploma in the subject. He married Elizabeth Wilke, also from Germany, and they began raising a family.

In June 1930 the Rudolphs moved to Kansas City, where Hans worked in another machine shop. In February 1932 Rudolph started work as an instrument maker for the physiology department of Indiana University. He stayed with this position until June 1941. It was there he designed and produced, in 1938, a high velocity valve for pulmonary function testing. He then produced a machine to record PFT results on paper.

Rudolph returned to Kansas City in June 1941 and spent the rest of his life there. He serviced and repaired research equipment for public schools, laboratories and universities. He kept working with respiratory valves, as well. From 1945 to 1955 he went into partnership with Glade Ives. Their company was named Multiform.

In 1955 the partnership ended and Rudolph started a machine shop in his basement. He received numerous orders for his high velocity valve and he built other equipment.