Martin Engineering — a bulk material handling company based in Neponset, Illinois, is celebrating its 70th anniversary in business this month.
The company was launched in 1944 when founder Edwin F. Peterson introduced the “Vibrolator”, the first industrial vibrator that used compressed air to propel a steel ball around a raceway. Since then, the company has developed a wide variety of products in the coal, cement, aggregate and biomass industries.
Martin Engineering continues to be family owned and currently is led by chairman Edwin H. Peterson, son of its founder.
“Our close family structure offers the advantage of maintaining a streamlined company that involves and empowers employees at every level,” Peterson said. “There’s a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that a fourth generation of the family will soon grow into an ownership role within the company.”
While the company started with industrial vibrators, in the 1960s it branched out to other bulk material handling products, including high-performance conveyors. The company now makes everything from air cannons to sonic horns to conveyor belt cleaners and has applied for more than 700 patents, about 350 which currently are active. These include such things as pneumatic valves, conveyor components, dust suppression devices, acoustic cleaners and measurement tools.
The company currently has 27 offices in 16 countries.