Dixon History

In 1887, at the age of 15, Howard W. Goodall quit school to work at a Philadelphia rubber distributor, Latta & Mulconroy Company, as a general clerk and errand boy. An inherent tinkerer, Goodall became interested in designing hose couplings and clamps which could obviously be sold as an accessory to their hose line. Mr. Mulconroy suggested that Goodall call on some accounts himself in order to promote the hose coupling project. This resulted in a successful and profitable new business for Latta & Mulconroy Company.

Several years later, Goodall asked permission from Mr. Mulconroy to travel to Wilmington , Delaware to call on the leather tanning industry there. Mr. Latta, Mulconroy's partner, objected. He didn't believe the young Goodall had any business calling on clients in Wilmington. Ultimately, this lead to a feud between the two partners resulting in Goodall's dismissal.

Later, with Mr. Mulconroy's blessing, H.W. Goodall founded the Goodall Rubber Company. He also started Knox Manufacturing Company in order to manufacture couplings and clamps, which were sold to rubber manufacturers and distributors. Knox Manufacturing was sold to Mr. Robert Stovell several years later.

In order to further the design and manufacture of couplings for the country's thriving growth in mining, oil drilling, construction and railroads, H.W. Goodall started the Dixon Valve & Coupling Company on March 21st, 1916. Dixon was originally located at 11th and Race Streets in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Goodall Rubber Company continued to grow. Much of its success can be attributed to Howard Goodall's willingness to travel to every major construction site he could locate, identify their hose and coupling requirements and then provide the necessary products. This gave H.W. Goodall considerable knowledge of coupling requirements on construction sites - information he later used to develop additional products for the Dixon line. [The top left photo shows Mr. Goodall inspecting couplings at Hoover Dam in 1932.]

In 1924, H.W. Goodall was advised to slow down for health reasons. He sold out his interest in Goodall Rubber Company and continued to operate the Dixon Valve & Coupling Company. Mr. Goodall traveled extensively promoting the Dixon products, crisscrossing the country several times a year.

As the company grew, they moved several times to larger locations. Eventually they settled at Hancock and Columbia Avenues where they purchased a building in 1929. Two large adjacent buildings were acquired (approximately 135,000 feet) during the 1940-1950's and, even with this additional space, the buildings were inadequate; so, in 1976, the business moved to Chestertown, Maryland.

In 1929, and for the next fifteen years, the largest selling item in the Dixon line was rotary hose couplings. These were extremely high pressure couplings used for the drilling of oil wells. These items represented approximately 35% of the total business.

The other items in the line which are still a large part of Dixon sales to this day are Boss couplings, King single and double bolt hose clamps, Air Hammer couplings, suction couplings, Air King Universal couplings and King combination nipples.

Prior to World War II, Dixon continued to promote and sell those basic products and added to the line other hose couplings you are familiar with today. The products listed below are a few of Dixon firsts:

* "Boss" Ground Joint and Air Hammer Couplings
* Air King® Malleable Iron Universal Couplings with Safety Locking feature
* "King" Steel Combination Nipples
* Steel Hose Menders
* Plated Hose Fittings
* Dredge Sleeve Clamps

In 1940, Dixon purchased the Mulconroy Company, formerly the Latta & Mulconroy Company. Eventually the Mulconroy line was incorporated into the Dixon line and today are referred to as Holedall couplings.

The Second World War had a large impact on Dixon. Much to the company's surprise, a large amount of its products fell under the Federal government priority system and were used by industry and the military in the war efforts. The company was forced to follow the ratings, which resulted in its inability to supply its standard product to the commercial distributor base. Al Dewees, who had also been the sales manager for Dixon, joined with Harry Shaw to start the Hose Accessories Company, later known as Le-Hi Valve & Coupling Company. With Dixon's production going almost 100% to the military, Dewees and Shaw were able to make large inroads into Dixon's distributor business. Dixon's manufacturing facilities were used for several military contracts. The largest was to produce 380,000 fuse plugs for anti-aircraft ammunition shells which were run on a brand new six-spindle automatic screw machine (right), the only one in the Philadelphia area at the time.