This garage was the first location of the National Inking Appliance Company, founded by the National Postal Meter Company in 1934 to manufacture the new, nonclogging inking device invented by Arnold O. Beckman. This garage was owned by Beckman's friend, Fred Hanson, a former instrument maker for CalTech who used it to store his Studebaker and piles of lumber. When the inking device was not a success, Beckman and the NIAC would turn to developing the first successful pH meter. With this shift in focus, the NIAC became National Technical Laboratories, and Beckman's first pH meters (or "acidimeters") were created in this garage.