The first memory I have in the industry was working for my stepfather, a great man. I started at the bottom of his company and went down from there. He was in the LP gas business, which he started in 1946. The TVA was just running power lines to people in the country in northern Alabama. Most people had no power and no running water outside of the towns. Homes were heated with coal, if they could afford it, or wood if they couldn’t afford coal. We were installing LP gas systems in many country homes, bringing them up to date with the city homes that had natural gas.
The thermocouple was the device that allowed a standing pilot light so the customer didn’t have to light the fire with a match. The advent of a thermopile would allow a technician to install a thermostat on the wall for automatic temperature control, a real step up from lighting the fire with a match when the room got cold. These were primitive days in the industry.