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"We were really changing what a water cooler was, " says Rod Magnuson, a product director at Elkay.
WSJ: With Bottle-Fillers in Mind, the Water Fountain Evolves
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Elkay introduced Flexi-Guard mouth guards made of plastic instead of steel, but that didn't entirely allay safety concerns.
WSJ: With Bottle-Fillers in Mind, the Water Fountain Evolves
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Elkay executives thought filling a 16-ounce bottle should take less than 10 seconds to prevent boredom and distraction.
WSJ: With Bottle-Fillers in Mind, the Water Fountain Evolves
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Another engineer, Franco Savoni, who joined Elkay from an auto-parts company, was assigned to speed up the flow.
WSJ: With Bottle-Fillers in Mind, the Water Fountain Evolves
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To address germ fears, Elkay decided to let people use its new fountain, dubbed the EZH20, without touching it.
WSJ: With Bottle-Fillers in Mind, the Water Fountain Evolves
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Though Elkay added antimicrobial agents to the mouth guards, fear of germs lingered.
WSJ: With Bottle-Fillers in Mind, the Water Fountain Evolves
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In recent years, Elkay and rivals, including Haws Corp. and Oasis International, have introduced new types of fountains designed to refill bottles.
WSJ: With Bottle-Fillers in Mind, the Water Fountain Evolves
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Elkay, a family-owned maker of plumbing equipment based in Oak Brook, Ill.
WSJ: With Bottle-Fillers in Mind, the Water Fountain Evolves
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According to an early participant in the project, an Elkay engineer said that was impossible, given the need to filter and chill the water.
WSJ: With Bottle-Fillers in Mind, the Water Fountain Evolves
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Though Elkay knew fountains had to change, progress was slow.
WSJ: With Bottle-Fillers in Mind, the Water Fountain Evolves