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In 1962 Jay and Ruth Smart founded the Won-Door™
Corporation in Salt Lake City, Utah. Prior to that time, Jay had spent
most of his life selling various building specialty products including
window systems and folding partitions. The unique name of the company
was recommended to Jay by a business associate after seeing the revolutionary
design of the first patented two track system, "This door is truly
WONDERFUL."
Relying upon his previous experience selling insulated storm windows
Jay began work on a two track folding partition. His goals were to create
a door that would (1) offer superior acoustical performance, (2) operate
effortlessly because of less weight and more roller assemblies, (3)
resist damage and abuse due to the absence of any internal connections
and (4) be completely modular making installations simple and permit
any part to be repaired in place. The result was the development of
the first ever trouble free folding partition.
In the late 1960's Jay began fire testing an acoustically rated folding
partition. Close associates found him almost obsessed with the idea
of engineering a sliding fire door assembly that would permit large
openings in fire resistive construction yet operate in such a fashion
as to meet the special evacuation needs of persons with disabilities.
The June 17, 1977 fire test at Underwriter's Laboratory in Northbrook,
Illinois culminated more than a decade of fire testing and research.
Many industry skeptics had questioned whether the door assembly, now
known as the Won-Door FireGuard™, would ever find a place in the
US fire protection and design communities.
Following serious cancer surgery in 1979, much of the day-to-day operation
of the business became the responsibility of Jay's son Ron, whose carefully
crafted business strategy has made many of his father's dreams reality.
An installation in 1979 at the California State Department of Rehabilitation
in Sacramento gained widespread support from disabled advocacy groups
for the use of the Won-Door FireGuard™ to create safe staging
areas for the disabled in multistoried buildings.
During the 1980's Won-Door™'s US distribution system went through
sweeping changes. Ron was among the first in the construction industry
to implement a network of company owned and operated branches across
the US As a result, sales skyrocketed. In 1988, the NFPA 101 Life Safety
Code adopted provisions to permit horizontal sliding fire doors in selected
applications in a means of egress. Today those changes are almost universally
adopted by the US model building codes and the new IBC for almost unrestricted
use of the Won-Door FireGuard™ in egress applications.
Won-Door™ products are routinely specified in major design projects
around the world. Won-Door™ products can also be found in most
airports, countless office buildings, thousands of schools, churches
and shopping centers, a large portion of the casinos in Las Vegas, the
Pentagon in Washington, DC, an endless list of hotels and even some
surprising locations in familiar amusement parks in major tourist centers.
At Won-Door™ we pride ourselves in making the most technologically
advanced products in the building construction industry, but we recognize
that our strength is found in the unique level of commitment and dedication
of our people. We believe people can make the difference and our employees
have been doing just that consistently since 1962. We hope you will
let us show you how the use of Won-Door™ products can make a difference
on your next project. |
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