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Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Service is a United States company which originally specialized in clearing tree roots and other obstructions from sewer lines. Today it employs thousands of plumbers, water restoration and sewer and drain service technicians throughout the U.S. and Canada. Roto-Rooter offers a broad array of (plumbing repair ), (sewer ) and (drain cleaning services ) using its patented, proprietary Roto-Rooter machine.〔 〕 == History == In the late 1920s, Samuel Oscar Blanc (1883–1964) was motivated by a stubborn clogged drain in his son's (Milton L. Blanc) Des Moines, Iowa apartment to seek a better solution. By 1933, Samuel Blanc had fashioned a sewer-cleaning machine from a washing machine motor, wheels from a child's little red wagon and a 3/8" steel cable. The cable rotated sharp blades to cut tree roots out of sewer lines, eliminating the tedious and expensive need to dig up pipes and clear obstructions by hand. Blanc's wife, Lettie (née Lettie Jensen), called his invention, a heavy-duty plumber's snake, the "Roto-Rooter."〔Staff. ("Interview: Jerry Richards discusses his group's recording of the Roto-Rooter jingle 50 years ago" ), ''National Public radio'', May 24, 2004. Accessed June 9, 2009. "In 1933, as legend has it, Sam Blanc sought a way to unclog drains without digging. He took some sharp blades, attached them to a washing machine motor..."〕 By the mid-1930s, Blanc was selling his patented "Roto-Rooter" machines for $250 and incorporated a business around it called Roto-Rooter Corporation. Many who were eager for work in the midst of the Great Depression started their own Roto-Rooter businesses throughout the upper Midwest, the Great Plains and the Northeast. Sewer cleaners are not required to have a plumbing license so in the 1930s a man could earn a decent living with only minor training operating the Roto-Rooter machine and a willingness to advertise his local business. Roto-Rooter's sewer cleaning service allowed homeowners to avoid digging up lawns and landscaping to reach underground sewer pipes. This modern breakthrough was such a revolutionary concept in the 1930s and 40s that Roto-Rooter featured an illustration of a mound of dirt over a recently excavated sewer pipe with the caption, "Why put a grave in your yard?" In 1980, the Blanc family sold Roto-Rooter Corporation to Cincinnati-based Chemed Corporation. Chemed began purchasing independent Roto-Rooter franchises and operating them as company-owned service locations under the newly formed Roto-Rooter Services Company, whose corporate headquarters is in downtown Cincinnati. Chemed sold off some of its holdings in Roto-Rooter in both 1984 and 1985, bringing its ownership stake to just below 60%, and launched a bid in 1996 to reacquire the 42% of shares that it had earlier sold off.〔Staff. ("CHEMED TO START ROTO-ROOTER TENDER OFFER" ), ''The New York Times'', August 9, 1996. Accessed June 9, 2009.〕 In the 1980s, some Roto-Rooter franchises and company-owned locations began to offer around-the-clock service and general full-service plumbing repair for both residential and commercial customers. Today, (Roto-Rooter's plumbing services ) represent approximately half of the company's business, while the other half is sewer and drain-cleaning work. There are more than 600 (Roto-Rooter service locations ) operating throughout North America that serve more than 90% of the U.S. population and more than 40% of the Canadian population. Roto-Rooter is the largest provider of plumbing repair and sewer & drain cleaning services in both countries. In 2009, Roto-Rooter introduced a book titled (''Chilling Tales From The Porcelain Seat'' ) that featured "true tales of the strange & unexplained things that happen and the Roto-Rooter Heroes that can fix them." Roto-Rooter asked its plumbers throughout North America to submit true stories about the odd things they have encountered on the job such as strange items recovered from toilets and sewer pipes. 2010 marked the company's 75th anniversary. International franchise operations have been established in Canada,〔Roto-Rooter Plumbers Canada Domain Name. ("A list of Canadian Roto-Rooter locations" ), Accessed July 28, 2009.〕 Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, and South Africa. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Roto-Rooter」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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