A.E. Wright and Sewer Cleaner

A.E. Wright was born June 11, 1887, in North Manchester and passed away in Nappanee in 1968. He married Ethel Harter on December 30, 1908, and they had two children, Harter and Maxine.

Wright graduated from the Indiana College of Mortuary Science.

A.E. Wright opened the Wright Funeral Home in 1921. (At one point, it was known as Wright-Yoder Funeral Home. Today, it is Thompson-Lengacher and Yoder Funeral Home). He owned the business for 44 years.

He was involved in many organizations, including the following: Nappanee Masonic Temple, Hammond Shrine, Nappanee Royal Arch Masons, Eastern Star, Kiwanis Club, State Bank, town treasurer, city council member, Nappanee Utilities Company, and the Street and Sewer Commission.

A.E. Wright also was the inventor of the sewer cleaning machine. He received a patent for a sewer machine in 1928. When he took it to the patent office, they told him no such machine was being manufactured. The machine removed roots and filth from Municipal sewers. It was also adjustable to any sewer size. Nappanee was the first city to use it for its sewer systems.

The machine was made by Nappanee Iron Works. It was adjustable from 10 inches up to 29 inches and had five sets of double-cutting V-Shaped knives like a pair of scissors. You would pull it from one manhole to the next. Over 500 cities in 48 states and 5 countries ordered and used the device.

With that, Mr. Wright created the Expanding Sewer Machine Company.