Cash Acme named Les Engelmann national backflow director. After joining Ames Co. in 1978 and becoming involved in product design, he developed the industry's first epoxy-coated fabricated steel detector check valve in 1980, and the first fabricated backflow preventer in 1982, according to the company. When Watts Industries acquired Ames, he served as vice president/general manager of West Coast and Chinese operations until he retired in 2003.