The global provider of flow control solutions for challenging applications, Rodney Hunt, has just marked its 175th year in operation.
Since 1840, the company has equipped utilities with everything from cast and fabricated gates to custom valves and actuation systems. Founded by Rodney Hunt, the company’s earliest products were plows, simple wooden machines and wooden water wheels and gates used in New England’s textile mills. As the business grew throughout the ensuing decades, the product line expanded to include textile manufacturing machinery, pumps and the hydraulic and mechanical equipment that supported the textile industry.
Rodney Hunt grew significantly during the 1930s and 1940s, due to the demand for textile machinery and equipment during WWII. The strategic decision to focus on the design and manufacture of products serving the growing water control industry took place in 1973, when the EPA initiated the Clean Water Act. This led to the sale of the textile wet-finishing division and the industrial role division in 1975.
In 1990, Rodney Hunt purchased AC Valve, Inc., previously the valve division of Allis-Chalmers Company, which expanded its comprehensive gate and valve product offering for water control applications.
In 1995, GA Industries, a Pittsburgh-based valve manufacturer, purchased Rodney Hunt, who then purchased Fontaine, a specialist in fabricated stainless steel gates, in 2009. The VAG-Group, a global flow control solution provider headquartered in Germany, was also acquired in 2011.