Reddy for a Controlled Tornado? – Sept. 1952

Back in September 1952, our old pal Reddy Kilowatt was doing his part for Production for Freedom Week by encouraging us to visit Ohio Edison's Edgewater Power Plant to see his 'Controlled Tornado.' Above is an ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on September 10, 1952.

So what was Production for Freedom Week anyway?

It was a national campaign that was the brainchild of the electric companies. As described in the South Amboy Citizen in an article on August 22, 1952, "The genesis of this idea is interesting. It was conceived within the electric industry and the original plan was for a "Power for Production Week." But the more the electric industry worked on it, the more evident it became that the scope of the observance should be greatly broadened, in order to help tell the story of all industry, rather than just one.

"Contact was made with organizations which represent industry in general and they welcomed the plan enthusiastically. Thus, the final idea of "Production for Freedom Week" came into being.

"The Week has two primary aims – first, to foster a better understanding of industry and the way our economic system operates; second, to show graphically what our system means to every American worker, and to emphasize its advantage over any other system. The Week will be in the nature of a vigorous, positive defense against those forces which would weaken, undermine and finally destroy the way of doing things that has made our country great and given it its living standards, and which would then lead us down the dismal road that could end only in socialism, communism and tyranny.

"One great thought underlies "Production for Freedom Week" – it is that freedom must be earned, nurtured and everlastingly guarded. In other words, we don't get it for nothing, and we won't continue to have it if we do nothing. And it is the millions of working people of America, with whom the Week is primarily concerned, who have the most to gain in preserving freedom under a representative form of government."

There are a lot of good points in that article.

Now, about Reddy's "Controlled Tornado."According to the ad, it was referring to the huge fans blasting a "man made tornado" through the boilers, along with turbo generators spinning their blades "as fast as 1,000 miles an hour." 

I like the illustration of Reddy actually piloting a twister. It's interesting that if you Google "controlled tornado," you'll see that the idea of controlling (or shutting down) a tornado has been around for a long time in the world of weather wonks.

Anyway, I don't know how many Lorainites took advantage of Reddy's offer to tour the Edgewater plant in 1952. Little did they know it would be gone – demolished – sixty years later. (I did a few plant demolition photo updates, including one in October 2010 and one in November 2010.