Great Moments in Process Automation History

May 22, 2013
Take a broken soda fountain machine, a car a.c. unit, flavor mixes, water and CO2, add inventiveness; you get America's favorite frozen drink.

We all love a story about a garage inventor who makes something great. Here's one about the Dairy Queen owner Omar Knedlik of Kansas City, who, back in the late 1950s, while kludging together a workaround for his broken soda fountain equipment, invented the Slurpee (or, if you can remember that far back or still drive through certain rural parts of the Midwest, the Slurpee v. 1.0, the ICEE).

The article is also full of fun facts such as that Slurpees are kosher pareve, except for Piña Colada flavor, and that Winnipeg, Manitoba, is the Slurpee Capital of the World, and that North Americans consume more than 13 million Slurpees every month. Oh, and that the marketing folks at 7-11 stores are marketing geniuses.

And you thought process automation was just about oil and gas, chemicals, electric power, and water supply.

Go here for the complete story.