67 Throughout America, mention of the 1930s recalls history’s bleakest economic period. The Great Depression saw massive unemployment as company after company shut its doors. For the Western States Machine Company though, the decade was extraordinarily positive and productive. Worldwide demand for sugar remained strong, and sugar producers who were eager to ramp up production while reducing operating costs hungered for the innovations developed by Eugene Roberts. Roberts continued to seek ways to safely increase the speed of the company’s centrifugals, and designed units for Hawaii’s Waialua Plantation that operated at 1400 rpm. Through continued refinements, he brought speeds at the Pahala, Kaiwiki, and Laupahoehoe plants up to 1600 rpm. The machines increased productivity, but Roberts still wasn’t satisfied. Belt-driven centrifugals had limitations, while direct-drive electric motors lacked the ability to adjust acceleration rates to process specific grades of massecuites with high efficiency. The Expansion Years left: Back page advertisement published April, 1938 right: Advertisement summarizing the Roberts - Stevens centrifugal contributions to the Sugar Industry