On the day that factory operations cease at the successor to the company he founded back in 1880, WESB is looking back at the life of Solomon Dresser.
Dresser was born in Litchfield, Michigan, on February 1st, 1842. In 1865, Dresser became an inventor and developer of equipment for oil and natural gas drilling, and in 1872 moved to Bradford.
In the 1870’s, Dresser worked on a solution to groundwater contamination of wells, resulting in a new type of packer using a tube-like rubber seal squeezed during operation. Dresser patented his invention in 1880, and founded the S.R. Dresser Manufacturing Company to market it.
In 1902, Dresser left the company he founded to run for the U.S. House seat representing Bradford as a Republican. He won and was re-elected in 1904. In 1906 Dresser decided to not run for a third term and returned to Dresser Manufacturing.
Dresser died in 1911. His grave is currently in Willowdale Cemetery, marked by a 20-foot obelisk.
Dresser Manufacturing merged with Clark Brothers of Olean in 1938 to form Dresser-Clark, which in turn merged with Ingersoll-Rand in 1986 to become Dresser-Rand. Halliburton acquired a 51% interest in the company in 2004 and Siemens purchased the company in 2015.
With the cessation of factory operations in Olean today, a company with 142 years of history that started here in Bradford comes to an end.
The company S.R. Dresser founded over 142 years ago is still very much open for business and doing quite well in Bradford!
In 1880, Solomon R. Dresser established the S.R. Dresser Manufacturing Company in the town of Bradford, Pennsylvania, to produce an oil well packer he had improved upon and patented. From Dresser’s first coupling patent in 1888 to our latest innovative products, our product line has continued to evolve to meet the needs of our customers. For over 140 years, many thousands of products and services bear the Dresser trademark of quality.
Today, Dresser Pipeline Solutions provides design and advances in pipe joining repair and pressure control technology with an unmatched variety of pipe joining, repair and pressure control solutions for the energy and transmission industries.
The Dresser Pipeline Solutions plant in Bradford, Pennsylvania remains a leading supplier of high-performance pipeline products supplying a variety of couplings, fittings, valves, repair clamps, integrity repair sleeves, and service connectors for water and wastewater, natural gas transmission and distribution systems, and general pipeline industry applications.
Nothing to detract from Dresser Pipeline, who are still a very important part of our community. I was referring to the Dresser Manufacturing branch, which merged with Clark Brothers in 1934.