Signmaker IVA

Gerber Signmaker IVA with original manual in addition to various supplies.  Sign shops would use the Signmaker to create die-cut adhesive letters in various fonts and sizes.

Heinz Joseph Gerber was born in 1924 in Vienna to Jewish parents. After being released from a work camp in the late 1930s, he and his mother were able to escape to Hartford, CT.  Gerber soon began to emerge as a brilliant scholar and inventor.  He received a scholarship to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and graduated with a BA in aeronautical engineering.  During his college days he invented a graphical calculator used to plot numbers which he aptly named the Gerber Variable Scale. This lead to the founding of the Gerber Scientific Instrument Co. as a way to produce and sell his invention.  One of his more well-known contributions to the sign industry was the  first digital drafting machine which sign shops adapting to use to cut vinyl.  Gerber is often credited with helping the sign industry to transform into a computer-based industry.

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