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Obituary: Crawford B. Murton Sr. / Inventor who left his mark on the steel industry
Saturday, March 18, 2000 By Jim McKay, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Crawford B. Murton Sr. distinguished himself as an inventor in the 1950s when the steel industry cast metal into shapes called ingots by pouring molten steel from huge ladles into molds.
Mr. Murton developed the Rotolok Stopperhead, a better idea for equipment to open and close the ladle. For decades, until the process changed, his invention was used in steel mills around the world.
The Rotolok, for which Mr. Murton held a patent, was a major product in its day for Vesuvius Crucible, his employer at the time of its development.
Mr. Murton, 77, of Churchill, died Thursday at Longwood at Oakmont, a retirement and health care facility in Plum. Family members said he had suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
Mr. Murton grew up near Chicago, where his father and grandfather were involved with the steel industry. A 1947 graduate of Carnegie Tech in metallurgical engineering, he worked as a metallurgist for Wisconsin Steel in the 1940s and for Kaiser Refractories in the 1950s.
He was a World War II veteran of the U.S. Army. He received a battlefield commission and served as a second lieutenant with the 71st Infantry Regiment, First Battalion, D Company.
Mr. Murton joined Vesuvius Crucible in Pittsburgh in 1954, after which he developed the Rotolok. He moved to Germany with his family in 1962 as a sales manager for the company with the assignment of opening the European market.
Mr. Murton returned to the United States in 1965 at the behest of his family, said his son, Crawford III. He later started a refractory company, Air Repair Inc., in the early 1970s and in 1975 opened another refractory company, 187 Inc. of Penn Hills, which is now operated by his three sons. 187 Inc. supplies minimills in the United States and Canada with refractory material, which is used to protect brick oven linings.
He is survived by his wife, Lucille, and 10 children: Crawford B. III, Robert M. and Carolyn M. McKeating, all of Pittsburgh; Anne L. Cortese of State College; Mary K. Miller of Denver; Michael R. of Highland, Ind.; Patricia Perry of Littleton, Colo; Arthur J., of McLean, Va.; Susan N. Adkins of Raleigh, N.C.; and Laura E. O'Hara of Scottsdale, Ariz.; and 30 grandchildren.
Arrangements were handled by Wolfe Memorial Inc., Forest Hills Chapel, 3604 Greensburg Pike. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:30 a.m. today at St. John Fisher Church, 33 Lewin Lane, Churchill. Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer's Association.
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