Fulton Bellows & Components, Inc.
Inventor Weston Fulton founded the company in 1904. The U.S. Patent Office in Washington issued over 125 patents for his inventions. Fulton was Chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau Observatory in Knoxville, TN. The invention, which he based his company upon, was the first seamless metal bellows, a device to confine atmospheric gases and vapors for study. Fulton's seamless metal bellows were temperature reactive and durable. Eventually, this discovery led to the first thermostats for homes and automobiles.
Fulton continued to expand the use of his patented seamless bellows until 1927. Some examples of his early applications are damper controls for stokers on furnaces and temperature controls on the early automobiles. These were basically shutter controls, water jacket or engine controls, expansion joints for steam pipes, and radiator valves, all of which are based on the bellows.
In the 1920's, the first area of process controls was the self-actuated temperature regulator, which led into operating valves. These valves were used for both temperature and pressure controls. This was the same principal that evolved into the field of thermostat and industrial controls. In the same year that Fulton developed seamless metal bellows, Fredrick W. Robertshaw invented the first water heater thermostat in Pittsburgh, PA. In 1945, the two companies merged, forming Robertshaw Controls.
In 2000, the company was sold to a private investor and renamed Fulton Bellows & Components, Inc. Today the company is best known as the manufacturer of Robertshaw Bellows. Our location, as seen in the photo below, shows our facility located on 12 acres with over 450,000-sq. ft. of manufacturing capacity and over 400 employees.
The Mission for Fulton Bellows & Components, Inc. is to be an industrial leader, a customer-focused, profitable organization which provides superior quality and services and is judged by our customers to provide the best value in the industry.