THAT’S BUSINESS

The big yellow machine and virtual and historical reality

Caterpillar Inc. might be the last manufacturer that comes to mind when you say the words “virtual reality.”

There’s nothing virtual when it comes to the big, bright yellow earth-moving machinery.

It is made of big honking chunks of steel.

Some of it is made in North Little Rock. Motor graders, or - as we called ’em when I was a lad - road graders.

Yet the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s brand-new Emerging Analytics Center is all about virtual reality, or two and three-dimensional data imaging.

Or to put it formally and precisely in this case, Emergiflex.

It is a system built by Mechdyne Corp. of Marshalltown, Iowa.

But guess who holds the patent for it. Right. Caterpillar.

The Peoria, Ill.-based machinery maker has had the patent since 1998, the year before Mechdyne produced its first commercial version of the technology.

So why didn’t Mechdyne use its technology, and avoid paying Caterpillar a license fee?

Good question, says Galen Faidley, engineering project team leader for Caterpillar.

Maybe it’s to avoid any squabble over copyright infringement, not that anyone is using that ugly term.

It’s entirely possible two businesses could come up with the same technological breakthrough at about the same time, Faidley said.

So, let them work, design and manufacture in peace.

Virtual reality, under any name, is a money- and time saver.

Using a virtual model is far more preferable than building a prototype, then working out the kinks, Faidley said. Catching a problem on a prototype is far better than after production begins, Faidley said, but a virtual model is much better than that, he said.

Software is much more malleable than steel.

Want a piece of the historic Albert Pike Hotel?

Well, a piece from the Albert Pike. You can’t have anything that’s part of the structure built in 1929.

Items from the hotel are being offered by Roy Dudley Estate Sales this weekend at the dealer’s Riverdale location, 1311 Rebsamen Park Road (behind the Dixie Cafe).

And you may be in luck, if Spanish-Moorish-style furniture suits your taste. It suited the style of the structure on Scott Street in downtown Little Rock.

There are a number of the dark-wood pieces - tables, sideboards, a planter - of that style, and, Dudley says, the stuff was made by Kittinger Furniture Co. There’s a Hazelton Brothers baby grand piano, a brand that faded from American production in the 1950s, that was used to provide music for hotel guests. If they were seated, they would have used the 30 upholstered dining chairs and 48 cafe chairs. There’s even a vintage shoeshine stand.

Be careful. Only the price tags with the letter “A” are from the hotel.

On the National Register of Historic Places, the hotel was sold in the spring to BSR Trust and is in the early stages of a $6 million renovation. It is a residence hotel these days for underprivileged people over the age of 55.

A recent tour of the hotel by this reporter revealed few of the estate sale items. That’s because they were in storage, which left the spacious lobby barren.

The sale, which started Friday, ends at 3 p.m. today.

If you have a tip, call Jack Weatherly at (501) 378-3518 or e-mail him at [email protected]

Business, Pages 61 on 07/14/2013

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