Samuel Face
Encyclopedia
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
floor technology and wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
controls.
Early life
Face was born at the home of his maternal grandparents in City Point, VirginiaCity Point, Virginia
City Point was a town in Prince George County, Virginia that was annexed by the independent city of Hopewell in 1923. It served as headquarters of the Union Army during the Siege of Petersburg during the American Civil War.- History :...
.
He attended Norfolk Public Schools and graduated from Matthew Fontaine Maury High School
Matthew Fontaine Maury High School
Matthew Fontaine Maury High School, one of five city comprehensive high schools, is a high school located in historic Ghent area of Norfolk, Virginia...
, the Norfolk Division of William and Mary/VPI
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech , is a public land-grant university with the main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia with other research and educational centers throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and internationally.Founded in...
(now Old Dominion University
Old Dominion University
Old Dominion University is a state university located in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools...
) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
.
His maternal grandfather, J. Fred Muhlig (1876–1948), also an MIT graduate, once worked as an engineer under Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
in West Orange, New Jersey
West Orange, New Jersey
West Orange is a township in central Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 46,207...
.
After four years of employment as a marine engineer and naval architect at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, in 1951, this ninth generation resident of Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
joined the family of companies founded by his great-grandfather Edward Webster Face (1829–1907) in 1867.
Concrete Industry
Mr. Face was best known for his role in the 1970s, 80s and 90s in the development of the technologies and the design/installation practices that became the world standard for the specification, control and measurement of the flatness and levelness of concrete.The Face Floor Profile Numbering System ("F-Numbers") has been adopted by the American Concrete Institute, the American Society for Testing and Materials, the Canadian Standards Association
Canadian Standards Association
The Canadian Standards Association, also known as the CSA, is a not-for-profit Standards organization with the stated aim of developing standards for use in 57 different areas of specialisation...
, the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
and is more widely used with each passing year. A system that is a slight modification of F-Numbers is used in much of Europe.
Sam Face's personal field consulting on construction projects in more than 20 countries helped create the modern industrial and commercial concrete floor. In the 1970s, working with Canada's top concrete contractor on numerous projects in greater Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Mr. Face developed the placement and finishing practices that resulted in what he called "Superflat Floors", known to many at the time as "Sam Face floors". Superflat floors are now part of the standard lexicon of the concrete industry.
As of 2007, the consulting company he helped create had provided services on more than 7,000 projects on five continents.
The measuring instruments he co-invented have been used to measure billions of square feet of floors and roadways around the world and are specified by the United States Federal Highway Administration
Federal Highway Administration
The Federal Highway Administration is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two "programs," the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program...
and the World Bank.
Over the last 20 years of Face's life, the use of the Face flat floor technologies and processes resulted in a 100% improvement in concrete floor flatness/levelness on the projects on which it was employed – usually at no additional cost to the building owner.
Face also designed and personally built a Superflat Grinder, which, according to the American Concrete Institute, produced the flattest concrete floor profiles ever measured.
Piezoelectric Technologies & Lightning Switch
Late in his life, Face became interested in piezoelectric technology, which led to his company's development of the Lightning SwitchLightning Switch
Lightning Switch is a wireless and batteryless remote control switch technology manufactured by PulseSwitch Systems, a member of The Face Companies group of Norfolk, Virginia USA. It is most commonly used as a wireless light switch.- Energy harvesting :...
and other improvements and applications of piezoelectric actuators, generators and sensors... and Transoner transformer
Transformer
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through inductively coupled conductors—the transformer's coils. A varying current in the first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus a varying magnetic field...
s.
Achievements
Two of the technological innovations developed at The Face Companies under his leadership were recognized with NOVA AwardsNova Awards
The Nova Awards are presented annually at the UK science fiction convention Novacon and recognise achievement in British and Irish sf fanzines.When initiated in 1973, a panel of sf fans named the best fanzine that year...
, the highest international honor for innovation in construction. Those innovations were Concrete Slab Flatness / F-Number System (1990) and The Lightning Switch
Lightning Switch
Lightning Switch is a wireless and batteryless remote control switch technology manufactured by PulseSwitch Systems, a member of The Face Companies group of Norfolk, Virginia USA. It is most commonly used as a wireless light switch.- Energy harvesting :...
Wireless Electric Switch (2006). , no other company had been the sole developer of more than one NOVA-winning innovation.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration named The Lightning Switch one of the top 20 spin-off developments using a core NASA technology of the early 21st century.
His life's work and accomplishments were recognized by a special Joint Resolution of the Virginia General Assembly
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,...
in 2002.
For his contributions to the concrete industry, Sam Face was named a fellow of the American Concrete Institute by a unanimous vote of the selection committee.
Face was listed as an inventor on 24 United States patents... ranging from a concrete mixer
Concrete mixer
A concrete mixer is a device that homogeneously combines cement, aggregate such as sand or gravel, and water to form concrete. A typical concrete mixer uses a revolving drum to mix the components...
... to a precision measuring device... to a wireless switch.
Face also is recognized by an award given in his honor. The Golden Trowels are highly prized awards in the concrete flooring industry. Presented by The Face Companies, Golden Trowels recognize the flattest and most level floor slabs placed in the world in the previous contest year. The Golden Trowels are announced each year at The World of Concrete in Las Vegas. A special Golden Trowel, The "Sam" Award was established in 2002 to honor "outstanding accomplishments in and contributions to the art and science of high quality horizontal concrete construction."
Death at 77
Sam Face died of cancer in his home in the Larchmont section of Norfolk, VirginiaNorfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
in 2001. He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Norfolk.
Sources
- Joint Resolution of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (2002)
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
- American Concrete Institute
- Golden Trowel News Release (January 2007), World of Concrete, Las Vegas
- Construction Innovation Forum archives