Pete Busker: a 'shoe in' for the 2002 Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal: in the late 1960s and '70s, Pete Busker was the research leader behind the extended nip press, now known as the shoe press. This March, he receives TAPPI's highest honor.

The paper industry has seen dramatic technological change in the past 40 years, but few can say they have enjoyed a more pivotal role in that change than Leroy H. (Pete) Busker. As a Beloit Corp. research scientist, Busker led the development of extended nip pressing, a technology that has since been applied across nearly every paper and board grade. In recognition of his contributions, Busker received the prestigious 1984 TAPPI Engineering Division Award; in 1988 he was named a TAPPI Fellow.

Now, in 2002, Busker has been recognized again with the Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal Award, the highest honor TAPPI bestows. The honor includes a $50,000 cash award and is granted to those "who have made preeminent scientific and engineering achievements of proven commercial benefit to the world's pulp, paper, board, and forest product industries."

Busker graduated from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, in 1953 and served in the Army Signal Corp. His first professional position was with Fairbanks, Morse & Co. in Beloit, Wisconsin. He joined Beloit Corporation's research and development department in 1960 and spent 33 years with the company. He retired in 1993 and lives with his wife Diane in Rockton, Illinois. Solutions! Editorial Director Alan Rooks interviewed Busker about his experiences.

ROOKS: A highlight of your early career was your work with the Extended Nip Press--it has become file dominant pressing technology in every grade. Can you describe how the research got started?

BUSKER: The project work started back in 1967 when I was named manager of an applied physics group in Beloit's R & D department. Our job was to build a mathematical model of the water removal process. While the model was never very successful, it taught us that time was a very, important factor in the press section water removal process. At that time, most research concentrated on increasing pressure. When we found out that time seemed more important than anybody was giving it credit for, we did some experimental work.

I had a couple of engineers and a technician working with me--Don Hoff did some of the mathematical modeling, and Carl Francik worked on our laboratory press with Lanier Gordon. We got excited when the results showed that extended nip pressing could dramatically improve press water removal. It looked like we could get six or seven additional percentage points of dryness out of the press if we could make a significant improvement in the dwell time.

ROOKS: What are some of the challenges you faced?

BUSKER: Our laboratory press had a tensioned belt wrapping around a roll; that way, we could vary the nip length from about two inches up to 10 or 12 inches by changing the wrap of the belt on the roll. Then we could tension the belt with an external roll.

The belts suffered strength limitations, and we went through a lot of belts in getting the data! We switched over to using a form of shoe press, and we decided we needed to water-lubricate this shoe against the moving belt carrying the paper. We could run samples at 600 pounds per square inch (psi) through a 20-inch long shoe, but we ran into problems with the water lubrication. When we tried to feed what would be equivalent to a "tail" through the machine, it would cause excessive belt wear. We explored some other things, such as flexible seals on the shoes, but it really got complicated in a hurry.

About that time, Jan Belgstrom from Sweden came on board as Beloit's vice president of research. He reviewed the project with us, and we decided to try oil lubrication as opposed to water. Of course, the higher viscosity of oil made it easier to develop a film and maintain it in a shoe press.

In 1978, E.J. Justus, vice president of engineering and research, had asked Dennis Cronin and the rest of us to do some work on one of the other presses in the lab, just running a single shoe with oil lubrication. It worked like a charm. We started working on that press and did sampling. From there Weyerhaeuser became interested in the energy-saving aspects of the ENP. First thing we knew, we had an order--it was December 1980 when Beloit started up the first ENP press at the Weyerhaeuser mill in Springfield, Oregon.

ROOKS: And the concept caught on from there.

BUSKER: Yes. We certainly had some help in the blanket or belt development from Albany International. The most important thing to the mill was they could ramp up production. They were getting better product quality--the linerboard was denser and stronger--but on top of that they increased production significantly.

ROOKS: How would you characterize the role that professional organizations have played in your career?

BUSKER: I joined TAPPI in 1969 and published my first paper, on extended nips and wet pressing, in 1970. My first commitment with TAPPI was with the Fluid Mechanics Committee. Eventually, I switched over to the Pressing Committee, which later became the Wet Pressing Subcommittee of the Water Removal Committee. I published a number of papers and worked on a number of committee activities. I learned a lot through my association with TAPPI. You make a lot of contacts in fine industry that you can try out ideas on; it gives you a good overview of what's happening in the industry.

I have belonged to other associations as well. Right after I got out of school, I joined the IEEE and I'm now a life member, and I joined and was active in the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association. Also, I'm a member of the IASPM, the International Association of Scientific Papermakers. All of these associations contributed to my professional development.

ROOKS: What about your activities outside work?

BUSKER: I have multiple interests. I've always had a strong interest in conservation. For about 30 years, my wife Diane and I had a little home-based side business, collecting wildflower seeds and making them available through a catalog. Both Diane and I have worked on projects with the Natural Land Institute here in Rockton. They have a 700-acre wetland area just west of Rockton, which the group is planning to reseed into native plants. There are bald eagles and cranes out there; it's a terrific place.

For many years I've been a beekeeper--I still have a couple of hives sitting out here in the yard but with no bees in them at present. I'm an amateur radio operator; I still keep my license active and get on the air once in a while. I also raise a few orchids and other plants in my greenhouse. I golf with friends tram Beloit and I like all kinds of fishing. Perhaps most importantly, I love being active with and doing things for my family.

ROOKS: What was the most satisfying part of your career?

BUSKER: Working on the research for the ENP was certainly the highlight of my career. It was an exciting time, an interesting time, and was very worthwhile co the industry.

ROOKS: What was it like to work at Beloit?

BUSKER: It was wonderful. They were very considerate of the employees. Here's one example: During one recession, Beloit had the option of cut tins employees or cutting salaries to get through the slow period. They did a survey and everyone said, "we'll take a salary cut," so everybody did, for six months to a year. Eventually business picked up again--and the family decided to reimburse people. You don't find that very often anymore.