Peter Koch (wood scientist) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Peter Koch
Born	(1920-10-15)October 15, 1920 Missoula, Montana, US
Died	February 14, 1998(1998-02-14) (aged 77) Missoula, Montana, US
Alma mater	Montana State University, University of Washington
Awards	Superior Service Medal of the United States Department of Agriculture in 1968, John Scott Award in 1973
Scientific career
Fields	forest products, engineering
Institutions	Southern Forest Experiment Station, Intermountain Research Station

Peter Koch (born October 15, 1920 – died February 14, 1998) was an American engineer and wood scientist. He was known as a top expert in how wood works and can be used. From 1963 to 1982, Peter Koch led a team of US Forest Service scientists. They studied how to best use trees from the forests in the southeastern US. Koch and his team invented many new things, earning eight US patents. They also wrote hundreds of research papers.

About Peter Koch

Peter Koch was the youngest of three sons. He was born to Elers and Gerda Koch in Missoula, Montana. In 1942, he finished his degree in mechanical engineering. He studied at Montana State College of Agriculture and Engineering in Bozeman.

After college, Koch joined the United States Army Air Corps. He was a pilot from 1942 to 1946. He mostly flew bombers over a difficult mountain route called "the hump" into China. He became a captain during his time in the army.

From 1946 to 1952, Koch worked in Washington (state) for Stetson-Ross Machine Company. This company made machines for cutting wood. In 1950, Peter Koch married Doris Ann Hagen. In 1952, he went back to school at the University of Washington. He earned his PhD degree in wood technology in 1954. After that, Koch taught at Michigan State University from 1955 to 1957. He also worked as a vice-president for a company that made lumber from hardwood trees. This company was called Champlin Company and was in Rochester, New Hampshire. He worked there from 1957 to 1963.

Research with the Forest Service

By the 1960s, people in the timber industry in the South were worried. There wasn't enough research on how to use smaller trees. These smaller trees were growing after the old, big pine forests were cut down. To help with this problem, the US Forest Service hired Peter Koch in 1963. He was chosen to lead a new research program. This program focused on using wood better. It was located at the Southern Forest Experiment Station in Pineville, Louisiana.

One of the first people Koch hired was Chung-Yun Hse. He was a young student from Taiwan. His job was to study glues that could bond layers of southern pine plywood. During his time there, Koch and his team of scientists made many important discoveries:

• They created special glues that could stick layers of southern pine plywood together.
• They found ways to make strong wooden beams by gluing layers of wood from the same type of tree.
• They invented new machines called chipping headrigs. These machines could turn small, round logs into square pieces of wood. This helped reduce waste from wood scraps and sawdust.
• They found a faster way to dry southern pine 2-by-4 studs. This method also kept the wood straight.
• They developed a strong board called flakeboard. It was made from a mix of southern pine and hardwood trees.
• They created tools to cut the side roots of trees. This allowed them to pull out the main root mass. These roots could then be used for fuel or to make paper pulp.
• They built a test version of a mobile chipper. This machine could collect tree branches and tops left after logging. It could also gather shrubs and stumps. All of this could be turned into mulch, fuel, or fiber.

In 1982, Peter Koch moved back to Montana. He worked as the chief wood scientist at the Forest Service Intermountain Research Station in Missoula until 1985. In 1985, Koch started his own company called Wood Science Laboratory, Inc. It was located in Corvallis, Montana. In 1996, Koch published his last big work. It was a thousand-page book about lodgepole pine trees. He had spent more than ten years researching for it.

Later Life and Death

Peter Koch passed away on February 14, 1998, in Missoula, Montana.

Peter Koch's Inventions (Patents)

Peter Koch held several patents for his inventions, which means he had the legal right to his new ideas. Here are some of them:

• A way to make studs (wooden beams) from small logs and thin wood layers (1969).
• A process for making laminated beams. This method used the whole log, even parts that weren't perfect (1971).
• A method to straighten and dry lumber using steam and a special oven (1972).
• A way to make parallel laminated pine lumber from thin sheets of wood (1975).
• A special cutting head with different sized blades for milling lumber (1977).
• A system for burning wet tree bark to create heat or power in sawmills (1977).
• A changed wood pulping machine that made better paper products (1978).

Awards and Honors

Peter Koch received many awards for his important work:

• 1968 – He received the Superior Service Medal from the USDA. This was for his work on chipping headrigs, new ways to glue southern pine plywood, and a system for gluing wooden beams from single types of trees.
• 1973 – He won the John Scott Award for inventing the "chipping headrig."
• 1974 – He was named a "Fellow" in the International Academy of Wood Science. This is a high honor for wood scientists.
• 1980 – He received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Maine.
• 1982 – He was named a "Fellow" in the Society of American Foresters.
• 1987 – He received the Society of Wood Science and Technology Distinguished Service Award. This award recognized his great service to the field of wood science and technology.
• He also received the Fred W. Gottschalk Memorial Award for his excellent service to the Forest Products Society.