Kendallville, IN: Flint & Walling (water pumps)

(Satellite)
It is so nice to come across the picture of a factory and discover that the company is still operating in the town in which it was founded.

Rural American History Captured posted

150th Anniversary

Jet and Centrifugal Pump Motors

Flint & Walling started out making hand pumps and windmills. They now make electric water pumps, including their own motors. Specifically, they make "submersible pumps, centrifugal pumps, jet pumps and booster pumps for home, farm and industry. Specialty items include city pressure booster pumps and fountain pond pumps.

150th Anniversary

Flint & Walling posted

Deep-Spectrum Testing™ at every phase of manufacture.

Our commitment to this exhaustive testing is why we’re tested and trusted. Building our motors from shafts to windings delivers deep-running quality.

That’s reliability you can count on.

[The worker is framed by the stator of a motor. Evidently 4" is the standard diameter for a water well. Since deeper wells need more horsepower, you vary the horsepower by varying the length of the motor. Reliability is an issue because these pumps are at the bottom of the well and push the water up to the surface. If the pump quits working, you have to pull out the full length of the supply pipe to get the pump out.]

150th Anniversary

Star Windmill Drawing

"The production of windmills proved to be a boon for Flint, Walling, & Company. In the late 1800s windmills were in great demand on the western plains among farmers in need of irrigation equipment. In 1878 the firm patented the Star Windmill, its most successful product....At the height of the windmill era, there were more than thirty manufacturers of windmills within a fifty-mile radius of Kendallville" [IndianaHistory]

The Mid American Windmill Museum is in Kendallville.