| History of Laboratory Devices Company |
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Oscar "Pete" Thompson was working at San Jose State University as a Lab Tech in the engineering department when he saw a need for an out side vender to produce the test specimens used in the labs. So in 1957 he started Laboratory Devices Company working full time at the college and making the test specimens in his garage. With in a few years other schools had caught wind of his business and started placing orders. He out grew the garage rapidly and moved the business to a warehouse.
In 1981 he moved his wife, Joan, daughter, Heather and son, Robert to Auburn California where they had 3 acres. The business had grown enough that he quit working at the college and ran Laboratory Devices full time with the help of his wife Joan who answered the phone and did the books. He built the shop on his property where they had their home and raised llamas.
In 1995 his son Robert started his own business Double Disc Grinding. His main client was Oscar. At that time Robert ground the bars to make charpys instead of Oscar having to send them out to be done. Robert also worked for his father at Lab Devices.
In October of 2002 Oscar retired and his son Robert and his wife Melodie bought the business. At that time they lived in Placerville and the shop was still in Auburn which was a two hour commute each day. In November of 2003 they started building the shop on their own 5 acres. They completed it in July of 04 and happily moved the shop.
Melodie does most of the lathe work, shipping and office work while Robert pretty much does everything else. Feel free any time you are close to Placerville to stop and say "hi". If they are not skiing, riding their quads or playing with the dogs they will probably be working in the
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4707 Peace Trail - Placerville, California - 95667
Phone: 530/344-1072 - Fax: 530/344-1772
lab1018@laboratorydevicesco.com
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