Hale Products Inc. is an American manufacturer of fire pumps and accessories located in Conshohocken, PA. The company also built fire apparatus from 1914 until the 1940s. Today, Hale is a major supplier of fire pumps and related equipment.
Hale Products Inc. has no relation to the similarly named George Hale Company.
History[]
Hale can trace its history back to 1906 when three firefighters of the Radnor Fire Company in Wayne, Pennsylvania formed a committee to maintain the automobile pumping engine recently purchased by the fire company. Maintenance and repair work was done in Alan Hale's Knox Motor Company garage. As the three firefighters (Alan C. Hale, C.N. Young and E.J. Wendell) gained experience with fire pumps they decided to enter the fire apparatus market with their own products.
In 1914 the Hale Fire Pump Company was formed. At this time the company was building complete fire apparatus. By 1917 the company had outgrown the garage and it relocated to a new facility in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. In 1920 Hale introduced a rotary pump which became popular and resulted in many sales to other apparatus builders. Alan Hale left the company in 1924, to focus on his other business interests. The Hale Fire Pump Company introduced its first centrifugal pump in 1931.
By the early 1940s the company stopped building complete apparatus to focus on providing pumps and accessories to other manufacturers. During World War 2 Hale built thousands of trailer mounted pumping units for the US Military.
Hale began to diversify in the 1980s, in 1984 it acquired the Hurst Performance, Jaws of Life division, a manufacturer of hydraulic rescue tools. In 1992 Hale merged with the Godiva Fire Pumps Company of England forming Hale Products Inc. In 1994 Hale Products Inc was purchased by IDEX.
Today Hale Products along with Godiva, Akron Brass, Class 1, Hurst Jaws of Life, Vetter and others form IDEX Fire & Safety.
External Links[]
Sources[]
- McCall, Walter M.P. Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Fire Engine Manufacturers. Hudson, WI: Iconografix, 2007.
- Company promotional literature and advertising.