Materials Group Celebrates 85 Years in Business

Wall Colmonoy, a global materials engineering group, celebrates its 85 years of business. The company employs 600 team members across the U.S. and its European headquarters in the United Kingdom.

“We are very proud of our long, storied history and the successes we’ve had over the years. Wall Colmonoy has a great future ahead with fourth-generation leadership,” states William P. Clark, Jr., chairman and CEO. 

Today, Wall Colmonoy remains under the ownership and leadership of its founding family, now in its fourth generation. “This enduring legacy attests to the company's adaptability, ingenuity and durability,” says Ann Clark Kendall, VP of global marketing and fourth generation family member.

Wall Colmonoy commemorates this 85^th year milestone with a special anniversary logo along with celebrations at each of its six locations.

“Our success and growth could not have been possible without our customers, distributors and committed and talented people. We continue to focus on our strengths of technical expertise, innovation and passion for our purpose serving the critical manufacturing industry,” adds Nicholas Clark, President and fourth generation family member.

In 1937, metallurgists Norman Cole and Walter Edmonds created a new nickel-based alloy containing chromium boride for oil and gas downhole drilling. The alloy became known as Colmonoy, an anagram of Cole and Edmonds’ surnames. The following year, entrepreneur Albert F. Wall acquired the company and renamed it Wall Colmonoy Corporation.

Today, Colmonoy hardsurfacing products are applied in a range of surfacing and thermal spraying techniques for a variety of industries such as glass container, oil and gas, mining, waste to energy, steel, and more.

Expanding their expertise in 1950, Robert L. Peaslee, materials engineer, introduced a new brazing technology using nickel-based filler metals and hydrogen atmosphere furnaces. This new filler metal was named Nicrobraz and was commonly used to join hot section components in military jet engines. The technology and product line continues to develop. At its Modern Furnace Brazing School, high-temperature brazing is taught by Wall Colmonoy’s leading brazing engineers at its Brazing Engineering Centers in both the U.S. and U.K.

In the 1970s, Aerobraze Oklahoma City developed the first stainless steel heat exchanger re-core procedure to support military aircraft, including at the nearby Tinker Air Force Base. In 2018, investments in aluminum heat exchangers were made to serve commercial aircraft such as Embraer CRJs and Boeing 700 series. The 2006 purchase of Aerobraze Cincinnati complemented Wall Colmonoy’s brazing, heat treating, welding, coating and machining capabilities.

In 2014, Wall Colmonoy acquired Franklin Bronze Precision Components, a Franklin, Pennsylvania-based investment casting foundry. Initially focused on glass parts, Wall Colmonoy diversified the business into other sectors. Today, the company focuses on precision investment castings for glass container, pumps and valves, oil and gas, steel, food and metal processing, transportation, and more.