A History of Excellence
The Norriseal Controls Division started in 1962 with the acquisition of Parks Equipment Company by Dover Corporation. Inventor Asbury Parks started Parks Equipment Company in a garage in 1955. The operation grew within a year to a 6,000 square foot facility. Mr. Parks was a problem-solver and visionary who obtained many patents. He pioneered improved methods for water/oil/gas separation and measurement. Among Mr. Parks' patents was the Non-Bleed Pilot still used in Norriseal Liquid Level Controls, 1001A, 1001XL and 1100A.
Norriseal is an industry-recognized name for quality oil and gas production products. The company started with Series 1000 Liquid Level Controls, Series 2000 HP 2-Way Dump Valves, Series 2070 LP 2-Way Dump Valve, Series 3001 LP 3-Way Valves, Series 3020/3030 HP 3-Way Valves, Series 4000 Pressure Controllers and Series 5000 Temperature Controls. Unique features for these were the Non-Bleed, Force-Balanced Pilot and the Hammer Nut Bonnet Closure for valves.
Key valve and control developments:
- The Series 1000 Liquid Level Controller was redesigned in 1963 and introduced as the Series 1001. It continued to incorporate the patented non-bleed, force-balanced pilot feature.
- The Series 2200/2220 HP Control Valve was developed in 1966 featuring the Hammer Nut Bonnet Closure.
- The Series 2700 Control Valve was developed in 1970, introducing the Bolted Bonnet Closure and Balanced Characterized Valve Plug.
- Norriseal received the "Meritorious Award for Engineering Innovation" from Petroleum Engineer Magazine in 1971 for the Series 2700 Balanced Plug Trim design.
- The Series 1001A Liquid Level Controller was introduced in 1975 to parallel the Series 1001. Enhancements included a sealed case and cover, rugged internals for vibration application (compressor systems), and special material for marine environments (offshore salt atmosphere).
- The Series 7100 Flo-Lift® Piston Check Valve was introduced in 1979, utilizing the Series 2700 bodies and trim components and adding the Non-Slam Piston and Bonnet Closure.
- In 1980, Norriseal provided all the valves and controls used on the Thistle Platform located off the coast at Aberdeen, Scotland in the North Sea.
- Norriseal received the "Meritorious Award for Engineering Innovation" in 1981 from Petroleum Engineer Magazine for the Series 7100 Non-Slam Piston design, presented at the 1981 Offshore Technology Conference.
- In 1986, Norriseal received an API 6D Certification to display the API monogram on Norriseal Flo-Lift® Piston Check Valves.
- The Norriseal facility was enlarged to 62,500 square feet in 1990.
- The Norris butterfly product line was moved and merged with the Norriseal Houston operation in 1993, creating the current Norriseal company.
- In 1994, Norriseal received ISO 9001 accreditation.
Butterfly Valves
Butterfly valve products became part of the Norriseal family when Mr. W.C. Norris purchased the Mudco Valve Company of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mudco was producing a damper-type butterfly valve in the late 1930's for control of drilling mud.
This product, the D-Series Damper Butterfly Valve, was incorporated into Mr. Norris' W.C. Norris Company which later became part of the original Dover Corporation founded in the mid-1950's. The D-Series evolved into the M-Series in 1950. The M-Series design provides a continuous seal with an elastomeric o-ring captured in a proprietary groove design on the disc's outer edge. This butterfly valve also features a novel, angled-disc design that provides a continuous sealing surface not interrupted by a shaft, as is the case with other designs.
During the late1940's and early 1950's, rubber-lined butterfly valves came into prominence. Polymer research had produced synthetic neoprenes and other types of elastomers applicable to valve seals. Norris realized that there were several design flaws with existing types of valves and began the process that led to the first cartridge seat valve with an angled disc. This effort evolved into the R-Series Valve. The design offers a harder, more chemical-resistant rubber liner that is also field replaceable. Placing the disc sealing surface at an angle eliminates the scrubbing of the rubber by the disc edge and the cycle life of the valve is lengthened by a factor of 10. This design, in its basic form, is the basis of today's butterfly valves, providing a consistently high degree of reliability and assuring a positive shutoff.
Norriseal has continued over the years to improve and optimize that base design. The addition of the M-Series metal-seated version allows a broad range of elastomers to be used for applications in which chemicals destroy molded elastomeric seats. These are instead safely handled with a wide variety of o-ring seals.
Design improvements have continued to focus on two primary areas. First, a continuous effort is made to define and evaluate the design dimensional tolerances. This assures a high degree of repeatability. Secondly, Norriseal emphasizes a continued search for improved materials to use in our valves. This has resulted in specially compounded rubber components that handle difficult applications such as dry bulk abrasive powders and hot mineral acids.
Norriseal continues to lead the butterfly industry by our approach to problem solving through engineering design and material selection. By producing valves in alloys such as titanium, Hastelloy, and Inconel, as well as multiple grades of stainless steel and specialty elastomers (including Aflas, Kalrez and Chemraz), Norriseal has the expertise to provide a positive shutoff valve for almost any application. Today, an industry-leading three-year warranty stands behind our commitment to quality, reliability and technical service.
