Richfield. On the Richfield farm, Kirby could implement his experiments in civil engineering such as the patented lake and the mill wheel which was supported on ball bearings and could produce electricity much more efficiently than a traditional, heavy gristmill wheel. During the first world War Kirby served as a nominal volunteer, a “dollar-a-day man”; using his engineering background to help factories convert to war production. He was assigned to Scott and Fetzer machine shop on Cleveland's west side. He was impressed with their work, and after the war showed them the prototype of a new vacuum cleaner design. Scott and Fetzer began producing both electric and non-electric versions of Kirby's design under a new division named “Vacuette”. Kirby continued his association with the Franz brothers, eventually becoming a trustee of their new company “Apex Electrical Manufacturing Company” which produced a variety of household appliances. In 1935 Scott and Fetzer introduced a new division of their company which was named “Kirby”. In 1940, Kirby was presented the Modern Pioneer Scroll of Achievement by the National Association of Manufacturers for “distinguished achievement in the field of science and invention which has advanced the American standard of living.” In 1956, Kirby opened Oceanside Shopping Plaza in Pompano Beach Florida. When Kirby and his wife Nellie moved to a second Richfield location in 1936, they sold their former home to the Cleveland Girl Scout Council which converted it into a camp later known as Crowell Hilaka. Generations of campers thereafter became familiar with the former Kirby estate. Kirby's Mill was preserved first as an Arts and Craft studio and later as a Girl Scout museum. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The camp was sold to Richfield in 2015 and is now a public park: Richfield Heritage Preserve. See also Kirby Company Vacuum cleaner Crowell Hilaka External links www.kirby.com — Kirby Company http://www.friendsofcrowellhilaka.org/jim-kirby.html - Friends of Crowell Hilaka Kirby Company history 1884 births 1971 deaths 20th-century American inventors