TPi November 2019

Business & market news

50 years of fusion innovation McElroy, a 65-year-old company with small beginnings as a contract job shop, is marking its 50 th year as a manufacturer of thermoplastic pipe fusion machines. key functions. “I think what they really have delivered is they have made our one machine/one operator concept of butt fusion more effective,” said Chip McElroy.

“If you look at the industries that have already embraced this technology, they believe in it,” said Chip McElroy, president of McElroy. “Those people are already believers and are challenging us to make our equipment more efficient, even easier to operate and to create the tools that let pipeline owners know joints were done per specification.” McElroy found its niche in the thermoplastics world in 1969, when Phillips Driscopipe asked company founder Art McElroy to design a 2" prototype machine for its high-density polyethylene (PE) pipe product. This led to the 4" Hand Pump, and more sizes developed rapidly after that, along with stationary and wheeled models and eventually tracked vehicles. Art McElroy accurately predicted a sustainable future in fusion and adopted a philosophy to stay ahead of the game by investing in engineering and product development. The company’s equipment was relied on heavily in the construction of natural gas distribution systems, and today thermoplastics are gaining ground in nearly every industry, as heat-fused, leak-free joints are accepted as a reliable piping solution. McElroy sold direct initially. Its sales team gave demonstrations, trained customers, rented machines, sold parts and made repairs. In 1981, Art McElroy created McElroy University, a formal training facility to ensure that operators and inspectors develop best fusion practices. The company also moved towards a distribution network in 1984 to sell equipment on a broader scale. In the 1990s, McElroy was encouraged by the mining industry to create a self-propelled fusion machine. The prototype was a self-contained, track- mounted 500mm fusion machine. That line of equipment is now known as the TracStar ® , and has become the flagship of McElroy’s machine lines. The TracStar is available in a full range of sizes from 28" to 48" OD. Its benefits include mobility and hydraulic assistance on

Sparked by the increasing use of pipe up to 2,000mm, McElroy set out on a completely new design to meet the challenge. The Talon 2000 is a self- propelled machine with a jaw design that self-loads pipe from the ground, positions it to be fused and moves from joint to joint down the pipeline. The new method for handling pipe known as pipelining provides a safer, more efficient way to fuse large pipe. After spending the majority of time in outdoor, underground construction,

McElroy took its products inside in 2014 with equipment to fuse polypropylene pipe for plumbing and mechanical systems. By 2018, the company offered socket tools as small as 16mm and butt fusion machines up to 630mm for polypropylene pipe, and believes its polypropylene tools are a key part of the future. McElroy – USA fusion@mcelroy.com www.mcelroy.com

Chip McElroy drives the first TracStar machine on a job site in 1997

The Talon 2000

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November 2019 TUBE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL