McElroy Company History
Art and Panny McElroy
Art McElroy took the first step in realizing his dream by starting his company in a small garage in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had little more than an unquenchable thirst for the science of design and a strong foundation in his wife, Panny. They put their honest work ethic into motion and watched their dream come to fruition in 1954 with the birth of McElroy Manufacturing, Inc.
In the early 1960s, McElroy became a forerunner in the market for fintube machinery. Art McElroy refined the design of the machine as we know it over a period of about 15 years. At the end of the 1960s, McElroy was shipping fintube machinery across the globe. With 24 U.S. and foreign patents on fintube-related equipment, it is estimated that as much as 80% of all finned tubes in the world have been made by McElroy machines.
In 1969, McElroy designed its first polyethylene fusion machine. Phillips Petroleum Co., one of the first developers of HDPE, knew of Art McElroy through previous contract jobs and approached him to manufacture a pipe fusion machine which could work with the unique characteristics of HDPE. This first machine was known as the 4" Hand Pump. This prompted McElroy to improve upon the original design and create the world’s first centerline-guided, semi-automatic, hydraulic machine for 2" to 6" pipe.
In 1983, McElroy added the Fluid Power Division to the company. McElroy Fluid Power became a regional distributor of hydraulic components. The initial strategy was to lower their fluid power costs. It soon became a major venture to market hydraulic equipment nationally. McElroy Fluid Power was a leading supplier of mobile hydraulic components. McElroy Fluid Power was sold in 2004 to focus efforts on the growing fusion market.
Art McElroy was an outstanding inventor, engineer, designer and businessman who established strongholds in three separate industries before his death in 1988. During the same year, Chip McElroy, his son, took over the direction of the company leading it through its greatest period of economic growth.
In 1997, McElroy introduced the TracStar® 500, revolutionizing the industry and becoming the first self-propelled, tracked fusion machine able to tackle nearly any terrain.
McElroy has placed its stamp on the world as a leader in engineering and manufacturing. The McElroy of today is eagerly expanding and offering both fintube and pipe fusion products in new markets across the globe. McElroy is building on its history of innovation with revolutionary new products like the Talon™ 2000 — the largest machine it has ever built — for 2000mm pipe fusion and the No. 5 Applied Fintube machine.
