• COVER STORY: BONNEY FORGE •
The Bonney
Not every company that starts lasts. Not every company that lasts leads. Bonney Forge Corporation has done both for 150 years. From a Philadelphia workshop that started in 1876 to the most demanding industrial environments today, the Bonney Forge name has carried consistent meaning across a century and a half of change. The industries that depend on it know what the name means. So do the people who built it.
• By Maddie Almer- Promotional and Advertising Specialist- Bonney Forge
Built to Last, Forged to Lead
This year, Bonney Forge Corporation celebrates 150 years. For a company built on precision and durability, 150 years is not a coincidence. It is a consequence.
One hundred and fifty years of American manufacturing. One hundred and fifty years of a name that has meant something in every market it has entered, on every continent it has reached. This anniversary is a moment of pride, and it is being marked accordingly.
If you know Bonney Forge, you know that pride does not announce itself loudly. It shows up in the product. It shows up in the people. It shows up in a standard of quality that has always spoken for itself.
That is the Bonney Forge way. It always has been.
A Foundation Worth Honoring The story begins in Philadelphia in 1876, when C. S. Bonney established
Bonney Vise & Tool Works, a small but mighty operation producing hand tools and hardware for the wagon and carriage trade. From the very start, the Bonney name stood for something: a standard of quality and serviceability that set it apart. That reputation only deepened over the decades that followed.
Through two World Wars, Bonney answered the call. The company became a prime government supplier during World War I, manufacturing forged parts for gun carriages, howitzer components, and pistol forgings. During World War II it operated around the clock, seven days a week, producing forged guns and torpedo parts, shipbuilding components, and specialized aircraft tools for the Army and Navy.
For that extraordinary service, Bonney was awarded the Army-Navy“ E” Award and three subsequent Stars, among the highest production honors an American manufacturer could receive. During that same era, a Bonney engineer named Fred S. Durham invented the Weldolet ® and Thredolet ® fittings, patented branch pipe connections that became global industry standards. They remain so today, and they remain exclusively Bonney Forge.
By the 1960s, the company had grown into a multi-site international enterprise with operations across the United States, Scotland, Italy, and Australia. A series of ownership changes eventually placed Bonney Forge inside Gulf + Western Industries, a large conglomerate with a broad portfolio.
6 Valve World Americas | May 2026 | www. valve-world-americas. com