Pop Safety Valve heir researches family history

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We receive messages from people sharing their passions about researches on a regular basis. But the sleuthing work carried out by Rick Ashton is on a different level. Rick found out that his great-great-grandfather was the inventor of the pop safety valve in 1871 “A breakthrough in boiler safety” in his own words, and he decided to find out all about it.

That resulted in a whole collection of valves and gauges and many more advertisements and clippings. Plus a 2100-words article! Rick wrote: “I've been researching the company for the past three years and have put together a history of the company, producing safety valves, pressure gauges, whistles, and other boiler related items for steam cars, farm tractors, locomotives, marine ships, and stationary boilers.” We felt obliged to shorten that somewhat, but want to share bits of it nevertheless. Over to Rick!

The Ashton Valve Company

“Probably not a lot of people are aware that the gauges on most of the Stanley Steamers and other steam cars were produced by the Ashton Valve company of Boston Massachusets. The company produced gauges for the White, Pope, Winton, and Binney & Burnham companies. Ashton Valve Co. lasted over 100 years; starting with just four employees and a vision to try and make boilers safer. At their peak, they employed around 300 people. I would also like to think their products saved a few lives along the way because boilers can be like bombs.”

“Henry Ashton’s desire to make boiler rooms a safer place to work led to the invention of the lock-up pop safety relief valve for steam engines in 1871 while working as the superintendent of refitting at the Eagle Sugar Refinery in Cambridge. He opened up shop at Pearl Street with three other employees under the name Ashton’s Lock Safety Valve Co. This was burned out by the Great Boston Fire of 1872.” Two more moves joined the same fate – great fires certainly were a thing of the day, and it must have been another reason that Ashton’s invention became so much in demand!

“21 years after its start, Ashton took over the Boston Steam Guage Co. to get into the manufacture of gauges themselves - the perfect complement to the other products they produced”, adds Rick: “And it wouldn’t be long before Ashton Gauges were as well known to the industry as the safety valves. History has shown that the gauges are what Ashton Valve is best known for today.” He found that his great-great-grandfather’s company produced 440,828 pressure gauges alone between 1895 and 1922. “By 1922 there were around 250 employees and satellite offices in New York City, Chicago, London, San Francisco, Mexico City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cleveland, Genoa, Vienna, and Paris! Business slowed in the 1940’s. Diesel locomotives, gas-fuelled  automobiles, and electricity as the main source of power all contributed to the decline in sales. WW2 brought major changes to Ashton Valve and the company ceased to be a family run business. In 1942 the Defense Plant Corporation bought the company and merged it with the Crosby Valve company. The last gauges with the Ashton Valve name were produced in 1978.

Words and pictures by Rick Ashton.

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