Samuel Allen Face Jr. (August 2, 1923 – May 2, 2001) was an American

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...

and co-developer of some of the most important advances in

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most ...

floor technology and

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The mos ...

controls.

Early life

Face was born at the home of his maternal grandparents in

City Point, Virginia City Point was a town in Prince George County, Virginia, that was annexed by the independent city of Hopewell in 1923. It served as headquarters of the Union Army during the siege of Petersburg during the American Civil War. History 1613-18 ...

. He attended Norfolk Public Schools and graduated from

Matthew Fontaine Maury High School Matthew Fontaine Maury High School also known as Maury High School, is a high school located in the Ghent area of Norfolk, Virginia, United States. Maury's school mascot is the Commodore. The high school is named for Matthew Fontaine Maury. In 2 ...

, the Norfolk Division of

William and Mary William and Mary often refers to: * The joint reign of William III of England (II of Scotland) and Mary II of England (and Scotland) * William and Mary style, a furniture design common from 1700 to 1725 named for the couple William and Mary may ...

/ VPI (now

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia wi ...

) and the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

. His maternal grandfather, J. Fred Muhlig (1876–1948), also an MIT graduate, once worked as an engineer under

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invent ...

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 46,207 counted in the 2010 Census.

. After four years of employment as a

marine engineer Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circl ...

and

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture occupations Design occupations Occupations ...

at the

Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

, in 1951, this ninth generation resident of

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

joined the family of companies founded by his great-grandfather Edward Webster Face (1829–1907) in 1867.

Concrete Industry

Mr. Face was best known for his role in the 1970s, 80s and 90s in the development of the technologies and the design/installation practices that became the world standard for the specification, control and measurement of the flatness and levelness of concrete. The Face Floor Profile Numbering System ("F-Numbers") has been adopted by the American Concrete Institute, the

American Society for Testing and Materials ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, a ...

, the

Canadian Standards Association The CSA Group (formerly the Canadian Standards Association; CSA) is a standards organization which develops standards in 57 areas. CSA publishes standards in print and electronic form, and provides training and advisory services. CSA is composed ...

, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

and is more widely used with each passing year. A system that is a slight modification of F-Numbers is used in much of Europe. Sam Face's personal field consulting on construction projects in more than 20 countries helped create the modern industrial and commercial concrete floor. In the 1970s, working with Canada's top concrete contractor on numerous projects in greater

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

, Mr. Face developed the placement and finishing practices that resulted in what he called "Superflat Floors," known to many at the time as "Sam Face floors." Superflat floors are now part of the standard lexicon of the concrete industry.Face Companies History website (accessed on 11 February 2017)
/ref> As of 2014, the consulting company he helped create had provided services on more than 8,000 projects on five continents. The measuring instruments he co-invented have been used to measure billions of square feet of floors and roadways around the world and are specified by the United States

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program ...

and the World Bank. Over the last 20 years of Face's life, the use of the Face flat floor technologies and processes resulted in a 100% improvement in concrete floor flatness/levelness on the projects on which it was employed – usually at no additional cost to the building owner. Face also designed and personally built a Superflat Grinder, which, according to the American Concrete Institute, produced the flattest concrete floor profiles ever measured.

Piezoelectric Technologies & Lightning Switch

Late in his life, Face became interested in

piezoelectric Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word ' ...

technology, which led to his company's development of the Lightning Switch and other improvements and applications of piezoelectric

actuators An actuator is a component of a machine that is responsible for moving and controlling a mechanism or system, for example by opening a valve. In simple terms, it is a "mover". An actuator requires a control device (controlled by control signal) ...

, generators and

sensors A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...

... and Transoner

transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

Achievements

Two of the technological innovations developed at The Face Companies under his leadership were recognized with

NOVA Awards A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

, the highest international honor for innovation in construction. Those innovations were Concrete Slab Flatness / F-Number System (1990) and The Lightning Switch Wireless Electric Switch (2006). , no other company had been the sole developer of more than one NOVA-winning innovation. The

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding ...

named The Lightning Switch one of the top 20 spin-off developments using a core NASA technology of the early 21st century. His life's work and accomplishments were recognized by a special Joint Resolution of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 1 ...

in 2002. For his contributions to the concrete industry, Sam Face was named a fellow of the American Concrete Institute by a unanimous vote of the selection committee. Face was listed as an inventor on 31 United States

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

... ranging from a

concrete mixer A concrete mixer (often colloquially called a cement mixer) is a device that homogeneously combines cement, aggregate such as sand or gravel, and water to form concrete. A typical concrete mixer uses a revolving drum to mix the components. For ...

... to a precision measuring device... to a wireless switch. Face also is recognized by an award given in his honor. The Golden Trowels are highly prized awards in the concrete flooring industry. Presented by The Face Companies, Golden Trowels recognize the flattest and most level floor slabs placed in the world in the previous contest year. The Golden Trowels are announced each year at The World of Concrete in Las Vegas. A special Golden Trowel, The "Sam" Award was established in 2002 to honor "outstanding accomplishments in and contributions to the art and science of high quality horizontal concrete construction."Golden Trowel Award website (accessed on 11 February 2017)
/ref>

Death

Sam Face died of cancer in the family home in the Larchmont section of

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 cen ...

in 2001, the home where his grandfather Muhlig, who had worked with Edison, died in 1948. He was buried in

Elmwood Cemetery (Norfolk, Virginia) Elmwood Cemetery is a historic municipal cemetery located at Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1853, and is filled with monuments and mausoleums that embody the pathos and symbolism of the Christian view of death as a temporary sleep. A n ...

References

Sources

* Joint Resolution of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (2002) * United States Patent and Trademark Office * American Concrete Institute * Golden Trowel News Release (January 2007), World of Concrete, Las Vegas * Construction Innovation Forum archives

External links

2002 SESSION Virginia Senate Joint Resolution No. 28 Celebrating the life of Samuel A. Face, Jr.

Construction Innovation Forum Website

Lightning Switch Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Face, Samuel 1923 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American inventors College of William & Mary alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni People from Norfolk, Virginia