Lakewood Lore

Carl Klamm's creation made 'Lucky Lindy' leakproof

It was once reported that Charles A. Lindbergh may never have succeeded in making his historic non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 if it hadn't been for Lakewood's Carl E. Klamm.

"Lucky Lindy" was lucky that he and Klamm met at a small airport west of Cleveland before the record-setting New York-to-Paris feat.

Klamm, then an engineer in his 30s, took the opportunity to show the pilot a revolutionary leakproof gasoline and oil line tube fitting. Klamm had invented it. Lindy was very impressed and asked that the new design be used in his soon-to-become-famous single-engine monoplane, the "Spirit of St. Louis."

Klamm installed the fittings, which were manufactured by Cleveland's Parker Applic3ance Company for whom Klamm worked. And Klamm was there to shake hands with Lindbergh just before take-off at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, in the drizzle of that May 20 morning 64 years ago.

Klamm died in 1979 at age 90, but his daughter, Carol Meermans of Bay Village, recalls with extraordinary pride her extraordinary father. "That's why Lindbergh made it -- because nothing leaked," is the way she puts it.

But while Klamm's career accomplishments were many and varied, he is most remembered in Lakewood for the volunteer work he performed during his post-retirement years in helping our community's young and elderly, and especially those with disabilities.

He excelled in creativity and, although he had completed only five grades at school, he came by engineering naturally. He took his skills to Lakewood Hospital and to the Lakewood Office of the Society for Crippled Children (now the Achievement Center for Children).

For them he designed equipment that would improve life for the less fortunate -- special crutches and leg braces, attachments to hold handicapped children's feet firmly on the pedals of stationary bicycles, dishes and trays that helped stroke victims feed themselves more easily, wire frames to enable the infirm pull up their stockings, and numerous other devices for occupational and physical therapy use.

"You run out of adjectives when describing Klamm," said Dr. Myron Pardee, former orthopedics chief at Lakewood Hospital.

"Exceptional, talented, innovative -- anything we would need to help people return to normal life, he would make. He devised appurtenances equipment that had to be so individualized that they were not available from the brace makers, and his concepts are still viable."

In all that our star volunteer did, quality was an overriding concern. Always conscious of detail, he was known as "Mr. Micrometer" because of his precision.

He was outgoing with a delightful sense of humor, loved music, played piano, and liked to whittle and carve in wood.

"He started and ran the woodshop for the elderly at Barton Center, and was so dedicated that he came at all hours to make items, many of which were sold at our Holiday Fairs," remembers Charlotte McQuilken, the center's public relations director.

Klamm was born in 1888 on Cleveland's lower West Side and began his career as an apprentice patternmaker in the Flats. Soon he became a partner in the former Fifth City Pattern Shop on Columbus Road.

Later, Cleveland industrialist Arthur Parker saw Klamm's potential and invited him to join in a venture -- Parker Applicance (now Parker-Hannifin Corp.). Klamm was associated with the firm from 1918 to 1963 and was technical assistant to the president when he retired at 75.

In 1916, Klamm married Alvina Remesch and brought his bride to Lakewood's Ramona Avenue immediately after the wedding. Alvina died in 1973, and Carl continued to live in the home until a few months before his own death following a stroke 12 years ago.

In 1971, he received the first annual Senior Citizen Award of the Lakewood Kiwanis Club, of which he was a member. Earlier, he had won similar volunteer citations from the Crippled Children's Society and the Cuyahoga County Senior Citizens Council.

The Klamms had a son and two daughters, of which Carol Meermans is the lone survivor. Following in her father's humanitarian footsteps, Carol has been a volunteer knitting instructor at Barton Center for 25 years. She also is a trustee of the Golden Age Centers of Greater Cleveland and volunteer at WVIZ (Channel 25).

A version of this Lakewood Lore article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post September 26, 1991.

Reprinted with permission.

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