A Profile of the F. E. Myers Company
October/November 1993
C. S. McNaull Mgr.
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The above photo shows a John Deere engine driving a Myers 'Working Head' pump. The working head pumps were made in 6, 9, and 12 inch stroke models. They converted rotary motion into reciprocal motion to drive 'sucker' rod up and down t
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Engineering Services 1100 Myers Parkway Ashknd, Ohio
44805-1969
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In 1870, the United States was emerging from Civil War and was
on the brink of a sweeping industrial revolution.
At that time in Ashland, Ohio, Francis E. Myers left his
father's farm to begin selling tools and hardware to the local
farm trade. In the basement of a rented building on Ashland's
cobble stoned Main Street, Francis and younger brother Philip A.
started what was then called 'The F. E. Myers & Bro.
Company.'
One of the early product successes at Myers was the
double-acting hand pump that Philip developed. This new pump
delivered water in a steady stream rather than in short spurts like
other hand pumps available at that time. With the advent of this
popular pump, F. E. and P. A. suddenly had more orders than they
could handle. Two other Myers brothers, Alvah N. and G. Denton,
then joined the company and erected their own building to
manufacture pumps. By 1884, the original structure was replaced
with an extensive factory that covered several city blocks.
Philip's mechanical genius kept the Myers brothers a step
ahead in the pump business, while Francis contributed the
financial/management and sales expertise, and the company
prospered. P. A. Myers actually held 125 patents on various pump
designs as well as such diverse products as porch swings, bicycle
stands, hay tools, store ladders, door hangers, etc. All of these
products, at one time or another, were manufactured and sold by
Myers.
Over the years Myers has designed, developed and manufactured
many types of pumps. These include windmill pumps, bilge pumps,
de-watering pumps, fire pumps, industrial pumps, power sprayer
pumps, etc.
In early 1900, Myers began to design and build fully automatic
electric pumps. One of these early models was discovered in Ashland
County in 1967still operating at the time!
As the pump business grew and became more and more complex, they
realized it would be necessary to make some basic distribution
changes. In the 1930s, Myers began to market their products through
wholesale distributors. This simplified warehousing and gave Myers
the opportunity to sell their pumps to an even larger number of
dealers nationwide.
The company also became involved internationally with an
aggressive 'export' sales effort. And now, many foreign
sales agents, licensees and distributors sell Myers products all
over the world.
In 1960, Myers became a wholly owned subsidiary (later to be a
division) of the McNeil Corporation, a world-wide organization with
corporate headquarters in Akron, Ohio. In 1986, Pentair, Inc., out
of St. Paul, Minnesota, purchased the McNeil Corporation Today, the
F. E. Myers Company is put of a 1.5 billion Pentair
Corporation.