"The manometer in its simplest form is a glass tube bent in the form of the letter "U" and partially filled with some liquid," wrote Joseph B. Meriam in 1930. If both ends of the tube are open, the liquid level in each leg will be the same. But if a different pressure is applied to each leg, then the change in pressure will be reflected in a change in the level of each "leg" of the tube. Mr. Meriam’s interest in this basic measurement device led to the formation of the company that bears his name yet today.
Years earlier, in 1911, with his wife and children as his original workforce, Joseph Meriam had begun making U-type manometers in his garage. Within a few years, demand for this type of instrument forced Mr. Meriam to expand into a larger facility. The need for durable, accurate pressure measuring instruments in the industrial revolution was driving the growth of the new company.
Four years later, the growing need for the overhaul and repair of the stationary gasoline engine, one of Meriam’s other areas of expertise, became another impetus to the growth of the Meriam Company.
The work with power-generating gasoline engines led to the development of flow-measuring devices, one of Meriam’s core technologies today. To accommodate the repair work, the facility was expanded just in time to assist in the war effort.
Meriam was awarded a number of government contracts to manufacture leak test stands to check gas mask components. In a short time, the measuring instrumentation business increased rapidly and forced the company to drop the gasoline engine repair business. |
During the war years and afterward, Meriam expanded the manometer line to contain hundreds of different configurations for different applications.
The instruments were adapted to work in manufacturing processes to measure differential or gauge pressures. Absolute and vacuum gauge manometers were designed for use in everything from aviation to laboratories.
Other products were added to the line, such as differential pressure bellows gauges for heavy-duty applications. The flow product line continued to expand with the addition of annular average pitot tubes, laminar flow elements and orifice plates and flanges. Meriam had a mechanical solution to nearly every pressure or flow measurement need and many of these products are still in demand today.
The Meriam family sold the Meriam Instrument Company to the Scott & Fetzer Company in 1969. Today Meriam remains a part of the Scott Fetzer Division of the Berkshire Hathaway Company.
The product lines include primary elements and gauges/indicators for process measurements; flow systems used for both process testing and calibration; and smart instruments for calibration and test applications.
Meriam products are used around the world in applications as diverse as chemical processing, oil drilling rigs, respiratory therapy, laboratory experiments, and military and commercial aviation. |
