Hugh M. Tomb, Solar Energy Pioneer Dies
Hugh McKelvy Tomb sold his architectural molded panel and fabricated plastics business in the early 1970’s. He was too young to retire, so he sorted around for another interest he could pursue, and settled on the exciting new field of solar energy. This was the time of the oil embargo of the U.S. by the Middle Eastern energy countries, and gas prices were sky high. Gas rationing in Massachusetts was enforced with even and odd day purchases only, based on the number plate on your car. Every citizen was shocked into an awareness of the need for alternative energy.
Mr. Tomb started a new company, Elbart Manufacturing Company, based in Millbury, Mass., housed in a 19th century textile mill. He designed and manufactured a domestic solar hot water heating system, with fiberglass collector plates on the roof of a homeowners house, and a 300 gallon storage tank in the basement. A pump in the basement circulated water from the storage tank, to the collector plates, and back, when the sun was making useable energy. The inlet to the household hot water heater ran through a finned copper coil in the storage tank, and picked up the heat from the solar collectors. This meant that the hot water heater had to come on less often, and this saved energy. The entire system paid for itself in only 3 years, based on the savings in energy use, and thanks to Federal and State tax credits to the homeowner.
Elbart Manufacturing Company was in the solar business from the mid 1970’s, until the mid 1980’s, when the demand for solar collector systems dropped off, due to the increasingly lower price of oil in the U.S. Also, the Federal and State tax credits expired, and homeowners had to bear the full cost of these systems. Mr. Tomb reluctantly, exited the solar manufacturing business.
While he was in full swing with his solar collector business, Mr. Tomb collaborated with other alternative energy pioneers. One well-known associate was Don Kent, the New England weather man, who ran an alternative energy store near Cape Cod. Mr. Tomb encouraged other young pioneers to come to his factory, and he offered them free space for their alternative energy activities. One effort was undertaken by Bob and Bill Stein, two brothers from Clark University, who were interested in wind power. The Stein brothers constructed several wind turbines, and set up tests and experiments in the yard of the factory. They sold several of their finished models, but they, too, had to abandon their efforts when alternative energy interest died out in the 1980’s.
Hugh McKelvy Tomb, 87, of Newton, died on Friday, April 27, 2007. He was born at home, at 167 Lake Ave, Newton Centre, Mass., on October 20, 1919, and he lived his whole life in Newton, Mass. His career as an Industrial Engineer spanned the formation of several companies involved in manufacturing in Massachusetts. He complemented his business career with a lifetime interest and active support in public education, serving as a member of the Newton School Committee, culminating as chairman in the 1960‘s. An active outdoorsman, he enjoyed camping, hiking, downhill and cross country skiing, ocean sailing and U.S. and foreign travel over his entire lifetime. He had an extended family, and much of his life revolved around family activities. He enjoyed spending time in New Hampshire at his family's summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee, and at the summer home of his wife Lavina’s family in Whitefield, NH. The couple also enjoyed sailing along the New England coast and the Islands of the Caribbean. For many years they made annual visits to Harbour Island in the Bahamas, and St. Martin in the French West Indies.
He attended public schools in Newton, including the Rice Elementary School, Weeks Jr High School and he graduated from Newton (North) High School in 1937. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Princeton University School of Public Affairs in 1941.
A life long student, Mr. Tomb pursued his various technical and Liberal Arts studies. In his later years he took an interest in the French language, and spent much time at the French Library in Boston, as well as taking courses at Lasell College, while he lived at Lasell Village in Auburndale.
One of Mr. Tomb’s additional noteworthy business accomplishments was the transformation of a New England textile mill into a modern manufacturing facility in Millbury, MA, to manufacture the Plexiglas panels for the U.S. Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal, designed by Buckminster Fuller. Another of his companies, Colorspan Corp. of Norwood, MA, created custom architectural components, which included the marble-filled Plexiglas doors at the entrance of the New England Aquarium in the 1970's. At the start of his career, Mr. Tomb worked for Monsanto Chemical Company in Princeton, NJ, New York City, and Springfield, MA, before moving to Boston to join Laminated Sheet Products Corp in the late 1940‘s. He met his wife, the former Lavina Chase, Smith College class of 1946, while she was teaching at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley. The couple was married in Whitefield, NH on June 21, 1947 and had been married almost 60 years.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Tomb leaves two sons: William Chase Tomb and his wife Lynn of Gill, MA, and Douglas Bunton Tomb and his wife Beverly of Falls Church, VA, a brother John Osborne Tomb and his wife Helen of Wolfeboro, NH and a sister Barbara Tomb Lundberg and her husband Rolf of Tuftonboro, NH and two grandchildren: Meghan and Jonathan Tomb, both of Burlington, VT. His eldest son, John McKelvy Tomb II, and a sister, Ellen, pre-deceased him.
Gifts in his memory can be made to the Appalachian Mountain Club of New Hampshire, c/o Mitch Manseau, 290 NH Rte 175, Campton, NH 03223 or The Second Church in Newton. A Memorial Service for Hugh Tomb will be held on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 2:00 PM, at The Second Church in Newton, 60 Highland Street, West Newton, MA 02465. (617)-244-2690.
Arrangements by Eaton & Mackay Funeral Home Newton Corner.