The resistance caused by the valves traditionally used in brass musical instruments has long been problem for the players. In the early 1940's Ed Thayer pondered this problem, after his own experiences with the French horn. He set about trying to invent a valve for brass instruments that offered nearly no resistance. His former Horn teacher, Fred Bradley, suggested that the sound of an instrument with such a valve would sound and play more like that of the only true natural brass horn, the slide trombone. Without the sharp bends and bore changes that the convntional rotary valves caused, without the resistance, the instrument would also play more freely. The simple idea of a looped tubing was Ed's solution to this problem. He used the term "axial-flow" to describe the change of airflow between two parallel tubes.

By December 1947, Ed had sketched out his idea, had it notarized, and mailed it to himself as a way of patenting the invention. It did seem odd to Ed, that in the 115 years rotary valves had been in existence, no one had been able to concieve of this revolutionary, yet astoundingly simple solution. That very thought, along with the fact that he did not have the resources to machine and produce such a device, prompted Ed to put his sketch away.

During the following years, Ed managed a hardware store, where, in the spring of 1943, he met his future wife Barbara. He and Barbara then relocated to the scenic Oregon coast. Ed always had had the restless spirit of an artist and inventor. He has often said, "retail business was never my forte, but building something with my hands is"! Ed had worked as a carpenter and machinist, and after gaining considerable practical experience in those areas, went to the Santa Barbara City Collage in California for a year to refresh his math. His engineering skills were largely self taught, but were sharp enough  to secure himself a job at the Oregon Marine Center as an Oceanographic instrument Technician.

Nothing was done with the valve invention until until 1976, when a musician and neighbor of the Thayer's mentioned to Ed that he was planning to attend the National Association of Music Merchants(NAMM) show in Los Angeles. He also mentioned that the Selmer brass instrument company had plans to introduce a new French horn. Nearly 30 years had passed since Ed had made his original sketch, and it now occurred to him that the Selmer might be interested in using his idea for the valves in their new horn. He made a model from plastic tubing that roughly illustrated the new concept and sent it to the Selmer representative with his neighbor. Selmer was immediately intrigued with the concept, and asked Ed to construct a working model.

But to his surprise, the Selmer company asked Ed to make the model for the valve trombone, and not a French horn. Trombonists were constantly complaining about the "stuffy" valves on their their large bore tenor and double valve bass trombones, so the first valve Ed made was for a Bach 42B trombone.

However, despite considerable negotiation, Ed and the Selmer company were unable to come to terms, so Ed and his wife Barbara decided to produce and market the valve on their own. By 1982, valve building for tenor and bass trombones had become their sole occupation.

The valve at that time was quite big and very heavy, so Ed began looking about for a machine shop that could help him construct a new and better design. In 1985, Ed got together with Mr.James Nydigger, who had never before been in the business of building musical instruments, but was none the less very interested in the project. In the fall of 1985, Ed and James decided to form a partnership, and Nydigger's attorney and accountant began drawing up an agreement. The final document came to the Thayers by registered mail the day after Christmas.

It mostly described the tax benefits of the joint transaction rather than the substance of a partnership agreement. Ed and Barbara were surprised to find a stipulation dictating that the patent would be signed over to James Nydigger. The understanding was that, "when they signed the Patent Assignment Contract, that,after one year, they would form the corporation to which the Nydiggers would assign the original patent".

In the spirit of trust and with the understanding that ownership of the patent would be returned to the Thayers after one year, Ed decided to sign the contract. By the spring of 1987 the corporation had not been formed, and it had become evident to Ed that ownership of the patent was not going to be returned to him. Also, all patents are subject to a maintenance fee every three and a half-years, and neither Ed nor Mr. Nydigger had payed this fee.  As a result, the patent became public domein, and three companies then began to produce axial-flow valves.

One was the Orla Ed Thayer-Thayer Valve International, run by the Thayers. The secound was the O.E. Thayer Company, run by James Nydigger, and the third was the Getzen company. In 1993 the Thayers regained ownership of the patent. The patent was again made public in 2008, and the valves are now manufactured in various countries, including China.

source: ITA journal 1998, Ron Babocock, edited by Roy Deuvall(2008)