Dixon Valve & Coupling Company
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Industrial manufacturing |
| Founded | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1916 |
| Founder | H. W. Goodall |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 8 manufacturing, 12 sales and service offices |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Richard L. Goodall, CEO Robert Grace, President |
| Products | couplings, fittings, hose assemblies, valves, hydraulic and pneumatic components |
| Website | www |
Dixon Valve & Coupling Company is a manufacturer and supplier of hose fittings and accessories. The company, often referred to as just Dixon, offers products for fire protection, food processing, dairy processing, beverage and brewery operations, industrial manufacturing, mining, construction, chemical processing, petroleum processing and refining, oilfields, mobile tankers and agricultural operations. Dixon Valve, which was founded by H. W. Goodall in 1916, maintains manufacturing, warehouse, sales or service facilities in eleven U.S. states.[1] It also has sales and service offices on five continents. Its international headquarters are in Chestertown, Maryland (USA).
History
Dixon Valve & Coupling Company was founded in 1916 to meet the demand for couplings for the mining, oil drilling, construction and rail transportation industries. During the company's early years through to 1950, it pioneered the development of various couplings and related products, including ground joint and air hammer couplings, malleable iron universal couplings with safety locking feature, steel combination nipples, steel hose menders, plated hose fittings, and dredge sleeve clamps.
After World War II, the company began expanding into international markets. In recent decades, it has continued to broaden its line offerings through new product introductions as well as corporate acquisitions.
Major milestones:
- 1916: Dixon Valve & Coupling Co. founded in Philadelphia by H. W. Goodall.
- 1917: First rotary hose coupling patented.
- 1918: First publication of Dixon Driller; with only two exceptions, the publication has been mailed every month since.
- 1929: Moves company headquarters to Hancock and Columbia Avenues in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1934: Opens Dixon Ltd. in Canada, the company’s first expansion outside the United States.
- 1940: Acquisition of Mulconroy Company and its Holedall couplings line.
- 1943-45: Nearly 100% of Dixon production goes toward military contracts.
- 1952: Acquisition of Buck Iron Company, a Pennsylvania metals foundry.[2]
- 1954: Founder H.W. Goodall dies; R. B. Goodall becomes president and chief operating officer.
- 1955: Introduces Tuff-Lite line of nylon fittings - non-metallic hose fittings (Tuff-lite fittings).
- 1976: Corporate headquarters moves from Philadelphia, PA to Chestertown, Maryland.[3]
- 1980: Enters cam and groove market and patents Boss-Lock, a fitting with a safety-locking handle.
- 1981: Dixon Adflow, Ltd. (now Dixon Group Europe) opens in Preston, United Kingdom.
- 1985: Acquisition of the Andrews line of cam and groove fittings from Parker Hannifin.
- 1992: Major renovation and updating of headquarters facility in Chestertown, Maryland.[4]
- 1993: Acquisition of Perfecting Service Company, a North Carolina manufacturer (now Dixon Quick Coupling).
- 1994: R. B. Goodall dies. Sons Richard and Douglas become third-generation family leaders
- 1996: Acquisition of Australian-based Minsup (now Dixon Asia Pacific).
- 1999: Acquisition of American Coupling Company of Chicago (now Dixon Brass).
- 2000: Acquisition of Bayco Industries (now Dixon Bayco).
- 2003: Begins operations in Mexico with creation of Dixva subsidiary.
- 2005: Boss magazine launched, a quarterly publication of Dixon Valve that explores the world and its industries.
- 2006: Acquisition of Powhatan and integration of its product line with other fire protection industry products to form Dixon Powhatan (now Dixon Fire).
- 2006: International sales office opened in St. Petersburg, Russia.
- 2007: Dixon Asia Pacific Private Limited incorporated.
- 2007: Dixon (Shanghai) Trading Company Limited established.
- 2012: Acquisition of Eagle America (now Dixon Eagle).
Regions and divisions
Dixon Asia Pacific
Supplier of hose, valve, pipe and fitting packages to construction, mining and agricultural industries in Australia, India, China and Singapore.
Dixon Bayco (USA)
Manufacturer of petroleum, dry bulk and FloTech overfill detection equipment.
Dixon Boss
Manufacturer and distributor of air fittings, cam and grove, clamps, oil fittings, stem fittings, swivels, valves and water fittings used in food processing, mobile tankers, mining, construction, chemical processing, petroleum, oilfields, refining, nuclear power and industrial manufacturing.
Dixon Brass
Manufacturer and distributor of pneumatic and low-pressure brass hose fittings, couplings and adapters.
Dixon Eagle
Designer, manufacturer and testing of zero emissions bellows seal gate and globe valves. Bellows seal valves eliminate fugitive emissions of toxic or regulated fluids and they prevent corrosive or harmful atmospheric conditions from entering the process, minimize maintenance and reduce life cycle costs in process plants including steam, cryogenic, heat transfer oil and vacuum systems. Bellows seals are considered zero-emission devices by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Dixon Fire
Manufacturer and distributor of fire and forestry products including fire department connections, fittings and hoses, valves for fire protection systems and accessories for sprinkler systems.
Dixon Group Canada Ltd
Canadian distributor of products produced by the Dixon companies worldwide. Manufacturer of the “Bayco” product line of petroleum and dry bulk fittings and accessories used on tankers to transfer liquids or dry bulk materials from tankers to in-ground and above-ground storage facilities.
Dixon Group Europe Ltd
Supplier of industrial hoses, hose assemblies, couplings and fittings to customers in the United Kingdom and Europe.
Dixon Quick Coupling
Manufacturer and distributor of hydraulic and pneumatic quick-disconnect couplings used in industrial, military, mobile, aerospace and medical applications.
Dixon Sanitary
Manufacturer of stainless steel sanitary fittings, pumps and valves used in food processing, dairy, beverage, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and select industrial markets. Dixon Sanitary also provides custom in-house automation of sanitary ball, butterfly, single seat rising stem and mix proof rising stem valves. All product meet the 3A standard for sanitary processing along with a number of the products meeting the EHDGE European Hygienic standard.
Dixon Specialty Products
Manufactures GSM Ball-Joint Armored Hose engineered to protect against extreme heat, flame, abrasion, molted splash and kinking.
Affiliate companies
- Buck Company - Foundry producing automated sand-cast, medium-to-high-volume castings in malleable iron, ductile iron and gray iron.
- Hydrasearch Company - Manufacturer and global distributor of hoses, technical products and fittings for commercial and military applications.
- Yardley - Manufacturer of threaded inserts used in fastening applications designed to lock securely into plastic, metal or wood base materials.
Dixon sells its product lines primarily through industrial distributors.[5] In concert with its distributors, the company conducts hose assembly safety surveys at plant facilities to identify performance problems and safety concerns or risks.[6] Plant Engineering, May 2004, pp. 50–51 Dixon also operates a fleet of mobile training centers that visit manufacturing facilities, chemical plants and mining location to deliver product training and education to plant engineering and maintenance personnel.[7]
Patents
Dixon and its subsidiary companies hold patents on numerous coupling designs. A partial listing of patents that are currently in force includes:
| Registration number | Word mark |
|---|---|
| 6,679,291 | Poppet valve assembly |
| 5,092,364 | Quick-action fluid coupling |
| 5,255,714 | Quick-action fluid coupling |
| 5,306,051 | Self-aligning and self-tightening hose coupling |
| 5,540,250 | Quick-disconnect fluid coupling |
| 5,577,777 | Ground joint coupling |
| 6,158,717 | Quick-action fluid coupling |
| 6,692,207 | One-piece metallic threaded nsert |
| 6,824,423 | Socket assembly |
Trademarks
Dixon products are sold under various trade names registered with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Among the trademarks are:
- Air King
- American Couplings
- Bayco
- Bradford
- Dix-Lock
- Dixon Boss
- FloTech
- Holedall
- Powhatan
References
- ^ Dixon Valve & Coupling Company, Inc., Bloomberg Businessweek
- ^ http://www.buckcompany.com/BuckHistory.aspx Archived June 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ “6,000 Jobs Lost in Philadelphia as 15 Firms Leave, Close” Evening Bulletin, December 15, 1976
- ^ “Renovations at Dixon May Hide the Past, but Firm Remembers Where it came From” Kent County News, May 27, 1992, p. 1
- ^ Richard Flaherty. “Producing ‘Win-Win Results” Industrial Distribution, June 2001, p. 73
- ^ Joe Dawson. “Hose Assembly Safety Surveys”
- ^ “Dixon Valve Takes Training to the Next Level” Chemical Online, February 26, 2008 (http://www.chemicalonline.com/article.mvc/Dixon-Valve-Takes-Training-To-The-Next-Level-0001?VNETCOOKIE=NO)