Back in the days when ammonia and carbon dioxide were almost the only refrigerants used--long before air conditioning had become an important part of the refrigeration industry--the Alco Valve Company was pioneering the control of refrigerant flow. The only ALCO product at that time was an automatic constant pressure expansion valve for ammonia. This first valve was a great step forward in refrigerant flow--it eliminated the need for constant personal attention on refrigerating systems. ALCO's first factory, if it could be called one, was in a basement room. However, ALCO's first product met with such immediate acceptance that in less than a year a larger facility was needed.

During ALCO's first year, only 500 units were produced. Today, nearly 2,000 units are produced in less than an hour. Hundreds of customers representing highly diversified companies throughout the world are using Emerson Flow Controls products.

Fewer than 20 persons were employed in 1930; today Emerson Flow Controls employs over 1,000 people, including experienced field engineers and direct sales representatives located strategically in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan. Those portions of the world not covered directly are serviced by the International Sales Department in St. Louis.

Emerson Flow Controls' main emphasis has been on technical advances and new products in the field from which it took its original name: "Automatic Liquid COntrols" for the refrigeration and air conditioning industries. World War II spurred production of these controls and also the development of ALCO products for other fields. Soon, aircraft hydraulic controls and actuating devices, radio direction finders, and aircraft windshield wipers (now carried by BF Goodrich.) were in production. Throughout the war, ALCO was a proprietary supplier of refrigerant flow controls to the U.S. Navy and Maritime Commission for surface and subsurface vessels.

After the war, demand for ALCO's diversified products grew rapidly. Research for new products went steadily forward, and a new concept in refrigeration control was realized with a mechanical pressure-limiting expansion valve. From drawing boards and laboratories came 4-way reversing valves, refrigerant distributors, and many other new refrigerant controls. Emerson Flow Controls is now aggressively developing control devices for new industrial and electronic markets.

Emerson Electric Co. acquired ALCO in 1967; ALCO quickly began broadening its operations. International scope has been achieved with plants manufacturing refrigeration valves in Germany, Japan, Canada, Mexico, China, and with licensees in Russia. This expansion, together with increasing emphasis on new products, demonstrates Emerson Flow Controls' confidence in its own future and in the growth of the vital industry it serves.