Claude Abraham:  

elec engr manager. Of the products I designed, the greatest victory was a bill validator for the U.S. Postal Service. In 1999, we bid against about all domestic competitors, & a few overseas, & won a contract to equip all U.S. post offices with bill validators. After the new money came out, the stamp vending machines didn't accept the new $20/10/5 bills. The USPS evaluated half a dozen or so units, & chose ours. The contract breathed new life into the company (June 1999). If you've ever purchased postage stamps from a vending machine since 1999, my unit yanked the bill out of your hand and issued credit. In spite of this, things declined quickly after the postal contract. In 1995 320 people worked at the facility. In Jan 2002, only 62 remained. The future looked dim, so in Jan 2002, I was offered a staff engr position with Bendix in Elyria, and I accepted. It was a good move. In Sep 2002, 30 more people at Coin Acceptors/Money Controls lost their jobs. I'm currently designing vision enhancement systems for commercial vehicles (trucks, buses). Infrared cameras similar to "night vision" sytems used by military, give drivers 1500 ft. of visibility at night, enabling them to see a deer 1500 ft. ahead, or an oncoming car with no headlights. Also in progress is surround vision, using video cams front, back, left, & right, displaying 4 images on a monitor inside the cab, eliminating blind spots. Also on the burner is speech interaction between driver & vehicle. The "Knight Rider" TV show (1980's) had "Kitt", the talking car. Pretty soon we'll offer that. I'm very excited to be a part of this great effort. I played in bands years ago. My playing in recent years is primarily gospel music for Sunday worship service. I've given drum lessons over the years. Lately, I've felt the urge to play publicly again. I'm considering finding a project, and getting back into music. All in all, I'm very happy with my career.