User:Heatersandsensorsthermal/sandbox

Watlow Electric Manufacturing Co. is a private, family company that designs and manufactures industrial electric heaters, sensors, and controllers. Since the company’s founding in 1922, it has opened nine manufacturing facilities and three technology centers in the United States, Mexico, Europe and Asia, and has sales offices in 16 countries around the world. Watlow serves numerous industries, including semiconductor processing, environmental chambers, energy process, diesel emissions, along with medical and foodservice equipment.

History
In 1922, Louis Desloge Sr. of the Desloge family founded Watlow in a rented corner space on the second floor of a machine shop. Located in St. Louis, Missouri, Watlow began manufacturing electric heating elements for the shoe industry. The name Watlow was decided referring to “low-watt” heaters replacing stream heat.

Watlow continued its growth during the 1930s and 1940s, and soon began selling products outside the United States. During this time, George Desloge, son of Louis Desloge Sr., joined the company. A few years later, George invented, and later patented, the FIREROD cartridge heater. This was the first swaged cartridge heater, revolutionizing heat transfer efficiency. Louis Desloge Jr., son of Louis, also joined Watlow during this time. Together, the Desloges expanded Watlow’s headquarters and St. Louis manufacturing facility to 185,000 square feet. During the mid-1970s, the company introduced the thermocouple product into the industry. Shortly after this time Watlow grew exponentially both globally and domestically, expanding into facilities in Kronau, Germany and Columbia, Missouri, as well as acquiring the Claud S. Gordon Company of Richmond, Illinois, the nation’s leading manufacturer of temperature measurement devices. In 1997 Watlow celebrated its 75th anniversary in the thermal solutions industry.

In 2014, the company announced plans to reconstruct its St. Louis facility into an Advanced Technology Center, adding 30,000 square feet of new construction and renovating 56,000 square feet of the existing facility. In 2015, Watlow launched their new F4T with INTUITION, a touch-screen controller that combines all the functionality of multiple devices into one process control.