Memorials › Frank Zybach

Frank Zybach

10 Jul 1894 – 19 Aug 1980

Birth10 Jul 1894
Death19 Aug 1980
CemeterySaint Bonaventure Cemetery
Columbus , Platte County , Nebraska , USA
Added byDebra Jahn on 26 Apr 2019
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17697821

Bio

Thanks to contributor #47399957; Inventor of the center pivot irrigation system; obtained Patent No. US2604359 A for the Zybach Self-propelled Sprinkling Irrigating Apparatus - application filed in 1949, approved in 1952. --------------------- Thanks to contributor #47710589; Frank Zybach, 88, who changes the landscape of Nebraska with the invention of center pivot irrigation, died Tuesday in Columbus Community Hospital of a lingering illness. The impact of his invention has been staggering and only years after he built his first center pivot system is its significance clear "It put millions of acres into cultivation that never would have been before it's better than getting no crop at all when the rain doesn't come,"he said in an interview with New Land Review in 1977. He invented the first self-propelled irrigation system after watching a demonstration of a towline-type system on wheat near Hudson, Colo. The system used a tractor till to move a long pipe equipped with sprinkler across the field. He later said, "I thought to myself there must be a way for a sprinkler system to move itself, so I started thinking about it. I applied for a patent that same year", he said. His patent was approved in July 1962 and he immediately installed his first center pivot system. Although, he had only recently entered full-time farming at the time, Zybach quit farming and began doing more center pivot systems, selling them for about $7,000 each. He and his partner, A.E. Trowbridge sold their patent to Valley Manufacturing in 1963. The firm (now named Valmont Industries) is now the world's largest manufacturer of center pivot systems. It sent royalty checks to Zybach, and his partner until the patent expired in 1969. Zybach was born July 10,1894 in Lafayette, Oregon, son of the late Edward and Lena Liebenqut Zybach. His parents took him to Columbus when he was three months old and he received all his schooling in the area. He married the late Elizabeth Kozlowski,Oct.21 1914 in Duncan, NE. He had a series of jobs until the 1940's, when he began helping his father with wheat farming and in 1946 began full-time farming in Strasburg, Colorado. Among his last ventures was Zybach-Trowbridge Construction Co, which specialized in heavy government construction projects. Three years later, he attended the irrigation demonstration that led to the invention that would change the nature of his business more than any other invention since the tractor. He later remarried after the death of his first wife in 1974. He was married to Nora Massie, Oct 11, 1975 in Burlingame, CA. He resided at 2120 28th St. at the time of his death. He is a member of St. Bonaventure Church in Columbus and Alpha zeta Fraternity at University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He received the Pioneer Irrigation Award from theUniversity of Nebraska, March 5, 1973 and he received the Sprinkler Association Industry Achievement Award in February 1974 in Denver, Colorado. Services will be at 10:30 a.m.Friday in St Bonaventure Church with the Rev. Flavius Czuba OFM. Visitation will be after 2 p.m. Thursday with scripture service at 7:30 p.m.Thursday in the McKown Funeral Home. He is survived by his widow, two daughters, Mrs. John(Angeline) Hennesy of Santa Cruz, CA. and Mrs. Francis Fena of Burlingame, CA., 11 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, his first wife, two brothers and one sister. source Columbus Nebraska Telegram obituary Aug 20,1980

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