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Ronald A. Sandler, the association member who nominated him for the award,
wrote: "A principal aspect of his invention was the discovery that ordinary
plastic [acrylic], which, though relatively soft, could beused on the
roadway even though subject to the conflicting effects of tire wiping
and abrasion. The significance to highway users was early recognised by
various publications of numerous state highway departments that began
to adopt and use the Heenan pavement marker."
The first use was in California in 1963. Because of problems caused by
snowplows in Snow Belt states, he developed a more abrasion resistant
front surface for the reflectors and a special casing to hold them in
place when a snowplow scraped at them. The result was a marker that could
be used anywhere.
Mr. Heenan graduated in 1940 from the Armour Institute (now the Illinois
Institute of Technology) and worked for Niles-based Stimsonite and its
predecessor company for 49 years.
Mr. Heenan was survived by two sons; John and Thomas, two daughters;
Susan O'Connell and Barbara Ma and three grandchildren.
Can you add more detail? If so, please write me!
Written by Andy Long, published on the internet 02 July 1997, based
on Chicago Tribune 23 March 1997. From (now gone): http://sun2539.sph.umich.edu:2000/public_html/heros/al.html
Nominations for the Heenan Hall of Fame are welcome,
and should be sent to Andrew Heenan. While I am happy to make up a
page for any Heenan Achiever, I cannot do the research. Please include
what details you can, and the web address of any pages with further
information.
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