Armstrong International celebrates centennial of 'Inverted Bucket Steam Trap'

October 2011 was a month for celebration at Armstrong International, Inc. as the family-owned, Three Rivers-based company marked a milestone – a century of performance for the Armstrong Inverted Bucket Steam Trap which came to market in October 1911.

During an interview with the River Country Journal, David Casterline, Corporate Director of Communications for Armstrong International, talked about the company, which was established in 1900, and the significance of the Inverted Buck Steam Trap. He described the device as “a product that’s very necessary that’s utilized in a lot of facilities all around the world. It’s a global product.” And he added, “It’s been our bread-and-butter product for years which has helped us to evolve into many other products over time, actually since our inception in 1900.”

David Casterline near a section of the mural in
'Plant 1' that depicts some of the history of
Armstrong's Inverted Bucket Steam Trap.

Casterline explained that the Inverted Bucket Steam Trap is used in a variety of settings worldwide as a device to help users “optimize their overall energy needs.” (David Casterline audio clip – 1:02)

One aspect of the multi-faceted centennial came on Monday evening, October 3rd at the State Theatre in downtown Kalamazoo. Casterline said, “It was a great evening and we had people in all the way back to Betty Lambertson who is the daughter of our founder, Adam Armstrong, and she’s going to turn 94 here real soon – just a fantastic lady – and she was there to help us to celebrate it, which made it really special that she was there as well. The Armstrong family members were there, our employees, our retirees. We actually bused them in on large, Greyhound-type buses from Three Rivers to Kalamazoo to the State Theatre where we had a band called ‘1964 – The Tribute’ which is rated the top replica band in the world by Billboard magazine and Rolling Stone magazine as well and they are a replica knock-off band of The Beatles so it was a wonderful night. We had over 600 people attend – about a three-hour event – and we also had a lot of our representative presidents that were in attendance.” Casterline said, “It could not have gone any better. It was a great night.” (David Casterline audio clip – 1:18)

Casterline said the centennial celebration has also involved:

Creation of a website which is “filled with many good stories from representatives and employees about the Inverted Bucket Steam Trap”
Development of a DVD piece depicting the success Armstrong has realized
And, with assistance from a Kalamazoo artist, creation of a mural in Plant 1 – several hundred feet long – which depicts the company history. The mural, developed over a period of four or five months – was completed in time for the 100th anniversary of the Inverted Bucket Steam Trap.

Another bit of history from the
recently-completed mural at Armstrong International.

In the course of the interview, Casterline noted the company’s long history in the Three Rivers community and said, “We’ve never had a layoff in that 111-year-and-running time frame. We’re very proud of that.” And he said the company has actually hired more people over the past couple of years.

Casterline also mentioned Armstrong International’s commitment to the community. He said, “It’s very important to us to be involved in the community. We try to be involved and be a philanthropist and help others whenever we can.”

To visit the website developed to mark the 100th anniversary of the Inverted Bucket Steam Trap, click here.

To view the DVD about Armstrong International, click here.

To gain many more insights by hearing the entire interview with David Casterline – a conversation recorded by Bruce Snook of the River Country Journal – click on the following link: David Casterline interview (17:11 – 15.7).

This break room reflects "Enjoyable Experiences," one
of the "4 E's" that are priority areas as part of the
Armstrong brand's promise to employees and customers.
The other E's? Environment, Energy and Education.