Donald M. Loper (Don) grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1977, after completing high school, Don enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Before leaving to serve in the Corps, Don met his future wife, Elizabeth. Oddly enough, although Don and Elizabeth grew up on the same block, they had never previously met.
Throughout Don's three year deployment in the Marine Corps, Don and Elizabeth exchanged weekly letters and after his tour of duty ended in 1982, Don moved back to Milwaukee and asked Elizabeth to be his wife. Shortly after the couple married, Don reenlisted in the United States Air Force. Don's military journey took the newlyweds to Arkansas, where Don served as an Aircraft Technician repairing C-130 Cargo planes.
In the late 1980's, the couple moved to Champaign, Illinois, where Don worked as an Aircraft Technical Instructor while attending Eastern Illinois University to pursue a degree in Education.
In 1989, after 10 years on active military duty, Don and Elizabeth moved back to Milwaukee to establish roots and start a family.
In 1990, Don enlisted in the Wisconsin Air National Guard and joined the 128th Air Refueling Group at General Mitchell Field where he spent the majority of his time working on hydraulic systems. Don was eventually promoted to maintenance supervisor where he was responsible for ensuring that all equipment repairs were completed in accordance to established safety guidelines and standards.
After joining the 128th Air Refueling Group, Elizabeth gave birth to Nathan, the couple's first son and Jacob, the couple's second son, joined the family two years later.
In 1994, Don left the Wisconsin Air National Guard to start a career in the financial services industry. Fortunately, Don's love for repairing equipment and developing innovative safety solutions remained constant throughout the years.
In 1999, Don came up with a revolutionary idea for a hydraulic safety shut-off valve. With the support of his wife, his family and close friends, Don was encouraged to fine-tune his valve design and file for a United States Patent. Don's patent was later grated in 2001. (US Patent No. 6, 240, 959).
After receiving a US Patent, Don continued to work on developing new valve designs that would lead to safer Fluid Power equipment operation.
In 2004, after researching the hazards, injuries and expenses associated with high pressure line breaks, Don set out to design a cost-effective, mechanical safety shut-off valve that could be placed on any type of fluid power equipment.
In early 2005, Don designed, developed and tested his first safety shut-off valve prototype. Don's preliminary tests concluded that the valve was, indeed, smart enough to distinguish the difference between a flow surge during normal equipment operation and an unexpected line break.
In 2006, Don presented his valve design to the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) and enlisted their help in designing a mathematical software program that would allow him to simulate how his valve design would perform in the real world.
In 2007, using a customized MATLAB and Simulink software program designed by MSOE, Don was able to build his first working Lo-Co SMART Valve model which was later showcased on July 13, 2007, during MSOE's Annual Alumni Weekend.
Currently, Don's work is focused on R&D, prototype manufacturing and laboratory and field testing of various Lo-Co SMART Valve designs.
