John B. “Jack” Long

John B. "Jack" Long began working on his father's coal mining company before being called into active duty from the Navy. At the conclusion of the war, Long rejoined his father as president of the Long Super Mine Car Company. While his father focused on specific inventions relating to chain conveyor features, Long focused on the development of entirely new system inventions for the mining industry. After his father's death, Long moved the company from Fayetteville to Oak Hill and renamed it The Long Company. In 1960, The Long Company was sold to Marmon Herrington Company and merged with Airdox, a long-established producer of compressed air cylinders for use as explosive charges, to form a new company named Long­ Airdox. Long was named president of both Marmon-Herrington and Long ­Airdox. The new company was much larger than The Long Company, it not only included overseas operations in England and France, but also a network of warehouses in the United States coal fields. To deal with the large coal lump created by the use of Airdox products, Long developed the Rosco feeder breaker. The feeder breaker rapidly became a standard feature of nearly every coal mine in North America. In 1970, Long retired from president of Long Airdox. Marmon Research, a newly created research and development company dedicated to machinery development for Long Airdox was created and he later became president. During his career, Long would develop a line of permissible mantrips and rock dusters, a diesel auger miner and a series of low height roof bolters. In 1986, Long purchased the assets of Marmon Research from The Marmon Group, formed John B. Long Company with his son, Armistead Mason "Army" Long, and used it to sell the previously developed mantrips and rock dusters while developing a new patented belt sampler for use in coal sampling. Not only did it meet immediate success in the mining industry, but it found equal success when applied at power plants, ports and a large number of non-coal sites including steel mills and aggregate plants.