Irwin L. Fife (1894–1971) was an American inventor credited with the invention of modern web-guiding systems from his garage in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[1] In 1939, Fife founded Fife Manufacturing. He received numerous patents for his advances in web guiding and manufacturing. In 1975, Fife Manufacturing became a publicly traded company.
Inventing web guide systems
In 1939, a local friend in the newspaper business came to Irwin for help with a high-speed newspaper press. Over the next year, Mr. Fife invented a web guide from his garage in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Fife Manufacturing
Founded in 1939 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Fife Manufacturing developed tools for web handling and web inspection.[2] In 1975, Fife Manufacturing Corp. filed for an initial public offering on the stock market.[3]
Fife is the founding member of the Oklahoma State University Web Handling Research Center (WHRC) and has been its primary sponsor since it was formed in 1986.[4]