The General Services Company was a company formed in the early 60s with the intent that it serve as a separate organization to build, market and service the newly patented equipment created by members of the CH2M organization. Among such items were:

Flomatcher: A variable speed pump control invented by Burke Hayes which permitted the automation of the pumping system in a Water Treatment Plant.

Microfloc: A system utilizing an extremely fine filtering system which when properly incorporated into a Water Treatment System could create near drinking-water quality effluent. This process was invented by Archie Rice.

The General Services Company operated out of a separate building near the CH2M offices primarily under the supervision of Archie Rice. A number of the various units were manufactured and sold or installed but it was ultimately decided that the ownership of these systems was causing apparent conflicts of interest when they were proposed as part of projects during negotiation. To eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest, a sale of the General Services Company (GSC) was negotiated with the Neptune Meter Corporation in 1963 or 1964. As part of the negotiated sale, Archie was to remain with GSC and serve as its president for 5 years, after which he was able to return to CH2M. During his service with GSC, however, Archie remained on the board of CH2M and continued to provide his unique and able strengths and abilities wherever they were needed.

The birth of tube and plate settlers Concept to reality, 1909 – 1965: In December 2014, Gordon Culp, formerly a CH2M HILL and Neptune Microfloc staff member, published a paper titled “The birth of tube and plate settlers: Concept to reality, 1909 – 1965, in the December, 2014 issue of the AWWA Journal. On page 40, under the heading of “MOVING FROM CONCEPT TO REALITY: 1965”, the article sheds additional important historical information about Archie Rice and MicroFloc.

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