History
The View-Master, a device for viewing 3-D images (also known as stereo images) on a paper disk, was invented in 1939 by William Gruber, a Portland, Oregon, photographer. A business arrangement was made, and the devices came to be manufactured by Sawyer's, Inc. In 1951, Sawyer's opened a factory in Progress, Oregon (now part of Beaverton), to manufacture the devices. The devices were manufactured at the factory in Beaverton until 2001, when production was shifted elsewhere and portions of the factory sold.
In 1998, a prospective site developer hired an environmental engineering firm to perform an environmental assessment of the site. This assessment discovered volatile organic compounds well above the levels specified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). This included levels of TCE which were over 300 times the federal drinking water standard. The various concerns who owned the View-Master franchise in the 1950s through the 1970s (Sawyer's and GAF), acknowledged using TCE to clean and de-grease parts and equipment, and disposed of the chemical on-site. This disposal was legal at the time.
IARC has classified TCE as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. The U.S. EPA is in the process of evaluating the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic human health risks from exposure to TCE.
Certain uses of TCE were banned in 1977 in the United States. However, TCE was still used in household products such as spot removers and typewriter correction fluid well into the 1990s.
Read more about this topic: View-Master Factory Supply Well
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