User:Pwcollier/Leo Morandi

Leo Morandi

During the 1940s, the few existing tile producers were labour intensive and had just begun to mechanize tile manufacturing in order to satisfy the increasing demand. To meet these needs, a few ingenious men committed to inventing and designing automated systems that would accelerate production levels, while maintaining the attractive handcrafted appearance for tiles that only the expert hands of craftsmen had previously guaranteed.

One of these gentlemen, Mr. Leo Morandi; with his clever innovations, he progressed to become a leading innovator and constructor of glazing lines and automated production processes.

His first patented system was issued in 1945 for a glazed edge scraper. Another new invention was the automated silk screen printing machine. Thanks to its efficiencies and simplicity, even this process was competently automated.

These and other inventions, such as: the hydraulic press, overturning, press reception unit, and glazing applications done with disk booths, are basic tile processing elements still in use today.

The frenetic growth of the tile industry requires numerous and continued upgrades, such as: the extending of glazing lines and kilns, additional safety and material handling research for safeguarding operators. Other developments, included the advancement of more sophisticated machines, with the arrival of dry glazes. Above all, the Italian beginning of mass production was using all these inventions in linear fashion, multiplied along the glazing line. This allowed the tiles to have a more natural appearance, larger sizes, and be given ever finer characteristics over the original designs.