286. Pensacolian Receives Invention Award 1918

Updated: Mar 28, 2022

Charles Franklin Zeek Sr. was born in the State of Washington on September 25, 1862 and appeared in Pensacola, Florida sometime before 1885. It was also in 1885 that Charles married Mathilde Rosalie Beaulieu (1861-1955) in New Orleans, LA. He was trained as a gas engineer and immediately entered into management of a gas works company. By 1900, he had become the superintendent of the Pensacola Gas Company with an office at 25 East Garden Street and their gas works at Tarragona and Cervantes. With his position, came a good salary so he purchased a new home in 1907 at 1007 East Gadsden Street that still stands today.

While serving in his superintendent position, he began working on a timing mechanism that made for a safer and more efficient gas operation. Based on the results of his work Charles was awarded the "Edward Longstreth Medal of Merit" from the Committee on Science and the Arts from Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. The committee was founded in 1890 for the encouragement for inventions. Zeek received the award for developing a clock mechanism that operated a set of relays that set in motion hydraulic valves that turned the main valves in the machinery, thus resulting in an automatic operation rather than depend on the carefulness of the operator.

Ironically, unbeknownst to Zeek, another man was working on the exact device at the same time. Mr. John Hawley Taussig (1876-1925) of Philadelphia was finishing the final touches to his device when Zeek submitted his four months earlier. Since both were unaware of the other, both men chose to divide the honor bestowed. Taussig was working as a gas engineer at the time for the United Gas Improvement Company. His father was Admiral Edward Davis Taussig was US Navy Rear Admiral from the Annapolis Class of 1867. During the Spanish American War he commanded the U.S.S. Bennington. After a colorful career he retired from the Navy in November 1909. However, at the onset of WWI he was recalled to active duty as Commandant of the Naval Unit at Columbia University. He passed away in 1921. In his honor the Navy commissioned a destroyer, the U.S.S. Taussig.

Charles and Mathilde had two children; Charles F. Jr. and Raymond Newton Zeek. Charles F. Zeek Jr. (1886-1985) served in the US Army from September to December 1918 during WWI. He became a professor of French and taught at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee. Their second son was Raymond Newton Zeek (1888-1945) who became a manager for the North Indiana Public Utilities Company. He passed away from a heart attack in 1945.

Back home in Pensacola Charles Sr. passed away on June 12, 1920 at the age of 57 and was buried in the St. John's Cemetery. Following his death, Mathilde moved in with her son Charles Jr. in Dallas and joined him as an instructor at Southern Methodist University. Mathilde would join her husband in St. Johns in 1955.