HISTORY OF MSS, PART 1

MSS CHAMPIONS STANDARDIZATION FOR THE VALVE AND FITTINGS INDUSTRY

February 2, 2024
Posted by MSS Staff
Written by Greg Johnson

As part of the 100th anniversary of the Manufacturers Standardization Society, we’re pleased to present this series on the history and evolution of the industry’s oldest standards organization for the valve and fittings industry. We begin in the early 20th century when manufacturers overcame their initial resistance to standardization, formed a committee to develop the first standards and eventually became MSS in 1924.

Industrial valves and fittings made their debut as important components of the steam-powered industrial revolution in the early 19th century. It didn’t take long for these component manufacturers to become an industry unto themselves. By the end of the American Civil War, companies were creating products to meet the primarily steam-driven need for valves and fittings.

The Need for Standardization Gains Traction

The products supplied to the fast-growing number of end-users of valves and fittings were built to each manufacturer’s own standards, including bolt circles and sizes, and pipe threads. This created issues as nothing was interchangeable between manufacturers. Although some talked in the open about the need for interchangeability, behind the scenes manufacturers were fearful that standardization could have detrimental economic and competitive ramifications. The problem would fester until the early part of the 20th century, when manufacturers seriously began to address the need for standardization.

The new century brought new ideas and attention to the standardization issue. The first steam-industry standardization began with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) creation of The Boiler Code in 1914. Valve-wise this standard only addressed relief valves and not the overall interchangeability of piping system components, leaving the door open for manufacturers to come together and tackle the problem. A group called “The Committee of Manufacturers on the Standardization of Pipe Fittings and Valves” (which would later become The Manufacturers Standardization Society of the Valve and Fittings Industry) developed its first standard: The American Standard Flange Dimensions for Brass Flanges.

The Precursor to MSS Organizes

Buoyed by the success of the brass flange document, the group formally organized and created a three-committee organization: the Committee of the Whole, a Committee on Lists, and a Committee on Dimensions and Specifications. The Committee on Lists was involved with creating standardized lists of valves that would make comparing and specifying valves from varying manufacturers much easier. The Committee on Lists was soon disbanded, while the concept of lists faded but didn’t disappear until the Chapman Valve Company, the last user of lists, was merged into Crane Valve in the late 1950s. The Committee of the Whole morphed into a board of directors, president, vice president, and treasurer. The dimensions and specifications group expanded into various specific technical committees.

WWI and Procurement Problems

Issues with the lack of standardization during the First World War created procurement problems for the U.S. Army and Navy. A prolific user of pipe, valves, and fittings, the Navy was in dire need of standardized piping products. The War Industries Board (WIB) and the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC), both critical war material suppliers in World War I, were integral in the pursuit of standardization. The War Industries Board was a U.S. government agency established during WWI to coordinate the procurement of material for both the Army and Navy departments. The Emergency Fleet Corporation’s job was to oversee the construction and maintenance of merchant shipping to support the war effort. 

Howard Coonley served as vice president of the EFC, while on a leave of absence from the Walworth Company. After the war, he would return to that company and take the reins as the first chairman of MSS in 1924.

The Briggs Pipe Thread

One of the first issues that MSS focused on during its early years was the standardization of pipe threads, particularly the Briggs Pipe Thread. The Briggs thread, after some heavily argued modifications, would become the National Pipe Taper (NPT) threads still in use today. Much of the refining of the thread design was cussed and discussed at MSS meetings.

Another project MSS tackled during these early years was a standard for cast steel flanges and fittings. By 1915, operating pressures and temperatures in industry came close to exceeding the capability of cast iron, brass, and bronze. Cast steel was a superior material for piping components and valves, but the lack of standardization inhibited the adoption of this product. Another decision made at the 1915 meeting was to adopt the dimensions that were already in use for class 125 and class 250 cast iron flanges and apply these to their cast steel counterparts.

Pressure Classes Grow Ever Higher

Steam power generation became the design driver for piping, valves, and fittings during this period. As steam pressures and temperatures climbed higher and higher, a need developed for higher pressure classes. MSS responded with a class 800 and a class 1200 hydrostatic pressure rating for semi-steel (a finer-grain, higher strength iron) and cast steel, and a class 3000 for steel only. However, these ratings do not correlate with similar ANSI ratings of today.

Although MSS was creating standards, they had no mechanism in place to sell them. It wasn’t until 1919 that the organization created a Publications Committee to study the issue of offering the standards for sale. In the coming decades the publication and selling of MSS standards would become an important income stream for the organization.

The Society Shares with Other SDOs

While proud of its work, MSS has never been a prideful organization. During these early years, MSS first demonstrated its ability to share efforts with other SDOs (standards development organizations). In 1918 MSS joined with interested groups to help start the American Engineering Standards Committee. This group would mature and eventually become the American National Standards Institute in 1969. 

As ASME was growing on a parallel path, MSS helped sponsor Committee B16, Standardization of Pipe, Flanges, and Fittings. The work of the B16 committee would grow and develop many important industry standards, many of which were originally MSS documents.

The ‘Committee’ Becomes the ‘Society’

By 1923, MSS was now headquartered and staffed in its offices at 522 Fifth Avenue in New York City. New York was home to almost all the industrial and trade organizations during the first half of the 20th century. Although the organization had a home, it still did not have the name, “Manufacturers Standardization Society”.

At the 1923 annual meeting the organizational name was a topic of discussion. The word “committee” was not popular with the group of men in attendance. As they bantered back and forth in the cigar smoke-filled room, the word “society” was proposed by Alfred J. Jupp, a representative of the Lunkenheimer Valve Company. He asked the group, “Does the word society appeal to you all?”. A voice from the crowd said, “It’s a nice, pretty word.” Chairman Coonley summed it up by saying, “You have here, the Manufacturers Standardization Society of the Valve and Fittings Industry.” A motion was then made and carried, bringing the actual MSS name into existence. The name change was made official following a vote at the annual meeting on May 17, 1924.

Tough Times, But Plenty of Standards

The Great Depression would affect all aspects of industry, and MSS was not immune from the fallout. Although membership dipped a bit during the 1929-1939 period and the 1925 Annual Meeting was cancelled, MSS published 18 standards during that decade, including long-time best sellers: SP-6, Standard Finishes for Contact Faces of Pipe Flanges and Connecting-End Flanges of Valves and Fittings; SP-9, Spot Facing for Bronze, Iron, and Steel Flanges; and SP-25, Standard Marking System for Valves, Fittings, Flanges, and Unions.

The salvation for the industry would be the end of the decade as the specter of war induced America to step up the production of ships, planes, and the instruments of war. American industry had been called upon too late in the game to provide much help in World War I, but for this conflict things would be different. The Arsenal of Democracy was a hungry beast that had an insatiable appetite for industrial products of all types, including valves and fittings.

Production is Tightly Controlled

Manufacturers were rapidly expanding their facilities and production, but there was an overriding need to regulate and control the manufacture of products of all types due to shortages of materials and personnel, as well as the need to prioritize the production of certain items. To that end, the output of the valve and fittings industry would be tightly regulated by the War Production Board. This group would dictate to the manufacturers who could build what and with what materials. This path also influenced standards organizations such as MSS. From 1941 through 1945, MSS only published three standards, all of which would be withdrawn by 1974.

Post-WWII: A Dip, Then Growth

After the giant sigh of relief brought about by V-J Day in 1945, engineers, machinists, technicians, and mechanics came home to work again making the products of peace. Some of them would return to their jobs in the valve and fittings industry. Immediately after the war there was such a surplus of piping materials, including valves and fittings, they could easily fill current needs. It took some time for the industry to get back in high gear, as the demand would take a few years to rise to a robust level.  But just around the corner was the roaring 50s and 60s, which would see the industry grow at an incredible rate and see MSS create scores of new standards. (Learn more about this in Part 2 of our series on the history of MSS.)

Greg Johnson is president of United Valve and has been a member of MSS since 1997. He is a member of the MSS Board of Directors as well as having served as a past president of the Society. In addition, Greg is a current member of these MSS committees: Steel Valves, Quality Standards, Valve Modification, and Marking & Terminology. He is also an active participant in the Valve Manufacturers Association and Valve Repair Council, having twice been honored as VMA’s Person of the Year for his work on VALVE Magazine and VMA’s Communications and Education & Training committees. In addition, he is active in standards development for API, including serving as current chair of the API Coordinating Committee and past chair of the API SCOPV Manufacturers Committee as well as numerous API workgroups.