Cameron International history

Mount Vernon was linked to the rest of the nation by railroad in 1851, and the following year Cooper was able to ship its first steam-powered compressors for blast furnaces.

In 1869, Cooper became the first company in what was then the West to produce the new, highly efficient Corliss engine.

Isabel was born April 15, 1884, one of 14 children of Voorse and Camille (Latour) Trahan, a Humble area farmer and landowner.

The company was incorporated as the C. & G. Cooper Company in 1895, and Frank L. Fairchild, a respected salesman of the Cooper-Corliss engine, was named its first president.

In the early 1900’s, Texas oil well driller James S. Abercrombie, needed a device that would prevent his wells from blowing out and catching fire.

Not long after Charles Cooper's death in 1901, it became clear that steam turbine engines were destined to replace the Corliss engine.

In 1907, Harry married Isabel Charlotte Trahan.

Fairchild died suddenly in 1912, and Charles Gray (C.G.) Cooper, took his place.

In 1919, C.G. Cooper became chairman and Desault B. Kirk, the company's treasurer, became president.

In 1921, a partnership formed between Abercrombie and Cameron and the small machine tools company became Cameron Iron Works, Inc.

The office was opened on October 23, 1929, at the very beginning of the Great Depression.

In 1941, Cooper-Bessemer's net sales jumped to an all-time high, and just two years later they had more than tripled.

It formed an international sales office and announced its first sales-service branch outside the United States, in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1945.

In 1951, Cooper-Bessemer's sales of $52 million surpassed its wartime high by nearly $10 million.

Due to revitalized demand, sales bounced back in 1956 to a record high of $61.2 million, but it was becoming increasingly clear that Cooper-Bessemer needed to diversify in order to avoid the cyclical pitfalls of energy-related manufacturing.

Lured to the company from Standard Oil New Jersey in 1961, Cizik started his career at Cooper as executive assistant for corporate development.

In 1964, it opened an office in Beirut and also formed a wholly owned British subsidiary, Cooper-Bessemer (U.K.), Ltd.

The Harry S. and Isabel C. Cameron Foundation was established by Isabel Cameron on March 11, 1966.

Isabel was a member of the Third Order of St Francis, Catholic Daughters, and The Women’s Guild at St Michael’s and many other Catholic and civic organizations She attended mass daily until she became ill in 1967.

Charles Cooper, the last Cooper family member to be associated with the company, retired in 1968.

In 1979, Cooper realized a dream of acquiring the Dallas-based Gardner-Denver Company, a company roughly the same size as Cooper.

In 1988, Cooper acquired RTE Corporation, a Wisconsin-based manufacturer of electrical distribution equipment, and Beswick, a manufacturer of fuses and related products in the United Kingdom.

Harry was a thorough mechanic, an affable and pleasant man whose business creed was summed up largely in one word, “service”. Cameron Iron Works, Inc. merged with Cooper Industries in 1989.

Acquisitions Culminate in 1995 Merger

In June 1996, the company acquired Ingram Cactus Corporation, a manufacturer of oil and gas production valves and actuators.

In 1998, Orbit Valve International Inc. was added to its holdings in a $100 million deal.

In May 2003, rumors began to surface that Cooper Cameron planned to make a $1 billion play for competitor Vetco Gray Inc., a subsidiary of industrial conglomerate ABB Ltd.