Unfortunately Theodore Sr. passed away a little more than 2 years after the move to Galva. Control of the company passed to his son Ted. Later, a third generation Theodore W. (Bill) Briegel would join the firm after a stint in Korea with the Army. He was promoted to sales manager May 26, 1955.

The company swelled in size during WWII, requiring the addition of more space. The office was moved to the building west of the factory in January 1940. It had once been a chapel and Swedish school for Messiah Lutheran Church nearby before being moved to the property and used by the Bests as their offices. By that time the company was operating 24 hours a day. Warehouse spaces were built in 1944 and 1955 as business continued to increase. Sales figures for 1951 alone were said to have topped 16.5 million fittings and 26,000 tools. While still under Briegel family control, there were as many as 60 on the payroll. At the company's peak (after it had been sold to All-Steel Equipment Co.) it had between 70 and 80 employees. "As many as 80 different component parts of conduit fittings were produced and three semi-truckloads were shipped out each week." ["Galvaland" issue 182, May/June 1976] I'm told that the entire Sears Tower in Chicago was wired with their products.

Theodore "Ted" W. Briegel

The products not only included fittings. Through the years there were 8 different tools designed for the "Telescope System", so called because the fittings slid over the outside of the conduit in much the same way as a telescope goes together. These included several styles of indenters for fastening the fittings to the conduit, a tubing cutter for clean, straight cuts on the conduit for a better fit than could be had using a saw, and a holder for gripping conduit while cutting. When properly applied, the half inch fitting was said to be capable of withstanding a pull of 500 pounds. The three quarter and one inch fittings could hold up under 700 and 900 pound stresses respectively. There are at least two dozen patents in the Briegel name in the U.S and Canada, some related to the business, while others range from window hardware to medical skin grafting equipment.

 

The sale and beyond.