Sistersville Tank Works

1942 McCoy Street

P.O. Box 200

Sistersville, WV 26175

Phone: (304) 652-3011

Fax: (304) 652-3031

E-Mail: Sales@stwinc.com

 

Manufacturer of Quality Pressure Vessels and Heat Exchangers since 1894

 

Workmanship

Innovation

Dedication

Over 100 years of  Quality

 

 

    In 1894, amidst the bustle, excitement and pandemonium of a genuine American boomtown, a business opened its doors and began to build products which in turn built an over 100 year reputation for quality, performance and service in some of the world’s most demanding applications.

    In 1890, Sistersville, WV, was a town of 300 people whose main industry was farming and providing ferryboat service across the Ohio River.  In a few short months, the sleepy farming community had become North America’s hotbed of petroleum exploration and production, and the wealthiest community in America in its day!  Sistersville had become home to 20,000 oil-crazed speculators, ambitious merchants, oil field roughnecks and assorted hangers-on.

    But within that boom-town population were people that recognized the opportunity available to those who applied special skills and craftsmanship to the tools of the oil field trade.  So, in 1894, Sistersville Tank Works opened its doors and began manufacturing boilers and pressure valves for a booming oil & gas industry.  With its original location at “Happy Hollow,” then one of the town’s most notorious sections, shop management had little trouble recruiting workers for the oil fields.

    The Sistersville Tank Works also provided vital boiler components, tanks and pressure vessels to a burgeoning regional manufacturing community.  Oil refineries, glass manufacturers, and later chemical plants, all turned to Sistersville Tank Works for custom designed and fabricated products able to withstand the rigors of high pressure applications with a high level of dependability and safety.

     Sistersville Tank Works has survived Ohio River floods (the Great Flood of 1913 forced relocation of the shop from its original site to higher ground), two world wars, the Great Depression and the changing technology of the oil and gas industry which vastly reduced demand for many of the company’s original products.

    With quality engineering as a priority and a reputation for craftsmanship, it was no surprise that in 1923, Sistersville Tank Works was one of the first fabricators in the nation to receive the ASME Code approval.  As steam-powered riverboat construction expanded in the U.S., so did the number of companies in the boiler fabrication business.  In order to establish regulations and standards for the construction of stationary boilers and for allowable working pressures, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) established the ASME Code for tanks and boilers to help guarantee built in safety factors.  In addition, each product fabricated under ASME Code receives a National Board number for identification which allows information to be obtained after their installation.

    Sistersville Tank Work’s product line took a sharp diversion during World War II, as the production of boilers and pressure valves was halted and the needs of a war-time nation took center stage.  Government military contracts turned Sistersville Tank into an important supplier of LST Landing Craft decks and casings for the famous Block Buster Bombs used to destroy Hitler’s submarine pens and harden shelters.  So vital was the company’s contribution that Sistersville Tank was awarded a rare Class III materials procurement priority rating.

    With the war ended, Sistersville Tank faced an expanding domestic economy with needs that no longer were served by the traditional company product line.  New capabilities, new technologies and the vastly more complex products now in demand pushed Sistersville Tank into hard times under a series of private and corporate owners.

    After decades of drift, Sistersville Tank faced certain closure in 1984.  But, while the owner’s commitment to the company and its products seemed to have been lost, the vision and dedication which brought the company’s founding had not disappeared.

Sistersville Tank bookkeeper Janet Wells and purchasing agent Darlene Morgan (Janet’s daughter) made a bid to purchase and save the company.  And against great odds, their effort paid off as they assumed ownership on October 15, 1984.

    During the past twenty years, Sistersville Tank has made an astounding turn around, thanks to prudent investment in equipment and skilled workers.  First, there was a renewed commitment to quality and service.  Then, in 1985, was the purchase of an advanced Computer Assisted Design (CAD) system.  Sales began to increase dramatically.  Sistersville Tank’s reputation for meeting tight specifications and demanding tolerances spread internationally.  Defense contracts were once again awarded to the company as the United States Navy purchased tanks to be used on the U.S.S. America, JFK, Coral Sea and Trident Submarines.

    Sistersville Tank Works saw its backlog of orders increase from $700,000 to $4 million, and its employees increase from seven to fifty.  In 1988, Sistersville Tank Works bookkeeper-turned-president Janet Wells was named U.S. Small Business Person of the Year and was featured in TIME MAGAZINE and dozens of national trade and business publications.  

     Unwilling to rest on short term success, Sistersville Tank completed a modern reactive metal shop in 1990.  The company now competes successfully with larger companies through an expanded line of equipment fabricated from titanium, zirconium, aluminum and silver alloys in a dust free environment.  The new high-alloy shop has allowed Sistersville Tank to expand from traditional carbon steel, stainless steel, nickel, hastelloy and Inconel nickel alloy.

    Sistersville Tank’s reputation for quality is now maintained through nondestructive testing using x-ray, magnetic particle, dye penetrant and trace element testing, in addition to pressure testing by hydrostatic test or pneumatic test.  As meeting the demand from global corporate customers for extremely close tolerances and material strength has become a fact of daily business, Sistersville Tank maintains its own metallurgical lab for destructive and non-destructive testing and Laser facilities are used for testing column alignment, nozzle alignment and other tolerance testing.

     Even after more than a century of existence, the company’s original product lines continue to roll out of the fabrication ship bearing the ASME code for fabrication of steam boilers, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, power piping and the performance of alterations and repairs.  Sistersville Tank Works will continue to exist on into the next century “because of quality.  We employ no salespeople.  All of our business is generated by a reputation for quality, accountability and responsiveness to customer needs,” states Janet Wells.  

     Sistersville Tank continues to move further into its second century on the forefront of fabrication and testing technologies.  A 30,000 square foot plant area allows the fabrication of large and small pressure vessels, storage tanks, heat exchangers, reactors, processing columns and other special applications efficiently and with a constant eye on quality.  The company’s growing list of customers, including chemical processors and manufacturers, oil refiners, power generators and pharmaceutical companies in the United States, France, England, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada and Japan, depend on Sistersville Tank to keep pace with their technologically complex requirements.