• Sprockets
• Rollers
• Track shoes
• Track chains
• Idlers
  and more!

In 1859, Robert Gardner inspired a legacy when his company provided the first effective speed controls for steam engines. The Gardner Governor Company had sold more than 150,000 governors across the U.S. and Canada, by the turn of the century. In 1883, the company was awarded a medal at the Southern Exposition in Louisville, Kentucky, for the best steam engine governor built in the U.S. Gardner expanded his offering by manufacturing pumps that fed water to boilers. This pump technology was adapted for use for the oil and natural gas well drilling process. A couple of remarkable events happened that would impact the future of Gardner Denver. One was an experiment of “horseless carriages” driven by gasoline or kerosene reciprocating piston engines. The second event was the discovery of oil at Spindletop, a gusher on the Gulf Coast, south of Beaumont, Texas, which assisted in America’s first oil boom. With the high demand for oil, equipment would be needed to bring it up from the ground. The Gardner drilling pumps, or mud pumps, were developed for that very reason. It was also around this time that Gardner began manufacturing high speed vertical air compressors. A line of compressors was sold to gas stations that started to pop up to serve the automobile market. While Gardner Denver suffered through the Great Depression, the company was helped in the mid-1930’s by the massive infrastructure projects that were initiated by the Roosevelt administration, designed to help get the nation back on its feet. Gardner Denver portable compressors were used to build tunnels, highways, bridges, and dams, including the Grand Coulee and Hoover dams. In 1943, Gardner Denver was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In the 1950’s, during the post-war growth period, Gardner Denver made a number of acquisitions, including Keller Tool Company, and the CycloBlower Company, a manufacturer of helical screw blowers. In the 1960’s, Gardner Denver was relocating its headquarters to Dallas, Texas, and at the end of the decade the company was acquired by Cooper Industries. Between 1985 and 1988, Cooper purchased Sutorbilt and DuroFlow blowers, OPI well servicing pumps and Joy compressors. As Cooper Industries’ strategies changed, the Gardner Denver Industrial Machinery Division was spun off in 1994 as an independent company. Gardner Denver Inc. then became a publicly held company trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Today, Gardner Denver Inc. is a recognized leader in the market it serves. Highly engineered products provide vacuum and pressure for thousands of different applications in dozens of different markets. Their commitment to their customers worldwide is the reason they are here today, and why they’ll be there tomorrow!