The Fisher Story | 39
New 35,000-square-foot manufacturing licensee plant
opens in Cowdenbeath, Scotland.
LPG and natural gas
regulator manufacturing
moves from
Marshalltown to a
40,000-square-foot
factory in McKinney,
Texas.
Office parking stickers used in Marshalltown.
Factory training center in Marshalltown trains shop
machine operators.
Sales meetings held at the Port-O-Call in
St. Petersburg, Florida, and Fairmont Hotel in
San Francisco, California.
First printing of the Control Valve Handbook.
Sales reach $39 million.
1965 Elliot Automation
Private Limited
incorporates to sell
valves in South East Asia.
First automatic
telephone system
installed in Marshalltown
eliminates
the switchboard.
Kathy Viers
hy are Fisher control valves
painted green? One theory
is that green is a lucky symbol of
profitability—the color of
money. Some say it’s because
Fisher valves originated in
America’s heartland, home of
green fields and green tractors.
Others say there was a sale on
green paint that week, and the
buyer went a little crazy!
According to former
president Tom Shive, bright
green was simply not being used
by any other valve manufacturer
at the time.
Tom said, “The choice was
made in the mid-1950s, when
the old style cast iron
diaphragm casings were
replaced by pressed steel
casings used on the Type 657
and 667 topworks. The team
decided to paint them a
distinctive color—one that would
differentiate Fisher assemblies
installed in a refinery, chemical
plant, pulp mill, etc. The
distinctive color turned out to
be bright green. Paul Elfers, who
was vice president of sales at the
time, probably made the
selection.”
After 34 years with the
company, Tom says he and a lot
of other guys have “Fisher
green” in their blood. And those
green Fisher valves are indeed a
distinctive asset and source of
pride in industrial processing
plants all over the world.
Why Green?
W