Category: Fire Protection

More Than a Century-Old Pipeline Demonstrates Sustainability of Iron Pipe

Roads and bridges, airports, energy systems – all are types of infrastructure that we depend on daily to bring functionality to our lives. Yet one of these infrastructures, concrete roadway, lasts, on average, just half our lifetime before becoming worn, riddled with potholes and in need of resurfacing. Hidden beneath our feet, however, is a durable product that plays a more vital role than all of these combined: Gray cast iron and ductile iron pipe make up roughly two-thirds of the nation’s water infrastructure, and they often last hundreds of years.

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AMERICAN Hydrant Guards WWII Battleship Memorial

In 1961, Battleship North Carolina was brought home to Wilmington, N.C., and dedicated as a state memorial to WWII veterans. That same year, a Darling B-50-B hydrant was installed in the parking lot of the new memorial. Today, a new American-Darling B-84-B stands guard over the battleship, protecting her employees and visitors to the site.

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AMERICAN Valves and Hydrants Support New Transmission Lines in Oklahoma City

Following extensive improvements at the Draper Water Treatment Plant, four miles of AMERICAN 48-inch ductile iron pipe were installed to increase water transmission and distribution. That was the first of four pipeline construction phases totaling roughly 16 miles of new 48-inch pipelines planned to be installed between the Draper Plant and the still-developing water distribution network outside Oklahoma City. AMERICAN also supplied valves and fire hydrants that were installed in conjunction with the first four miles of pipeline.

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AMERICAN Valves and Hydrants Part of Post-Katrina Mississippi Gulf Coast Restoration

Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, AMERICAN has shipped more than 1,600 American-Darling fire hydrants and almost 10,000 gate valves to Mississippi Utilities Supply Company, a Ferguson Waterworks subsidiary and AMERICAN distributor in Gulfport, Miss. Mississippi Utilities Supply was open for business the day after Katrina and stayed open 24/7 for several months following the disaster to service utilities in the region. The distributor took orders and delivered orders even before electrical service was restored, which allowed the use of computers and land phone lines.

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