CLARCOR Air Filtration Products history

The newly public company next embarked on a string of acquisitions that not only raised its revenues to $82 million by 1976 but also allowed the company to diversify into a wide range of packaging materials.

As then President William Nelson told Forbes in 1979, Clark's diversification efforts were made because "[t]here's always a possibility that metal containers will become too expensive for some uses.

The company began to invest more heavily in its filtration business, acquiring in 1986 Dahl Manufacturing, Inc. of California and that company's line of marine filters, diesel engine fuel/water separators, and related products.

In 1987 Clark changed its name to CLARCOR Inc. to emphasize its diversified status.

The 1993 acquisition of Airguard Industries had marked CLARCOR's first substantial move into the market for air filters for industrial and commercial customers--the firm having previously focused primarily on fluid filters.

The 1995 purchase of Hastings Manufacturing Company of Michigan, which added filtration products for the automotive and light truck markets, helped boost CLARCOR's sales that year to $290 million and net earnings to $22 million.

1997: United Air Specialists, Inc., a Cincinnati producer of commercial and industrial air filtration systems, is acquired.

Early in 1998 CLARCOR completed a minor though strategic acquisition, that of Air Technologies, Inc. (ATI) of Ottawa, Kansas, principally a producer of air filtration products to clean the air exiting out of painting operations.

In September 1999, however, the corporation completed a major acquisition that substantially increased the industrial/environmental filtration segment.

A huge jump in revenues, to $652.1 million in 2000, resulted from this major acquisition.

In June 2001 CLARCOR spent about $29 million for several filtration management companies that together made up one of the leading distributors of filtration products to some of the largest firms in North America.

Through 2002, CLARCOR had recorded 16 consecutive years of revenue growth and had increased its dividends for 19 straight years--stellar achievements.

On February 28, 2017, CLARCOR became part of the Parker Hannifin Corporation filtration group.