In 1913, two young engineers (Charles F. Wallace and Martin F. Tiernan) founded the Company with the invention of a device for disinfecting water supplies with chlorine gas. They named this device a “chlorinator”. On Washington’s birthday, 1913, they installed the chlorinator in Jersey City’s Boonton Reservoir. It operated successfully, chlorinating Jersey City’s water for many years. In 1914 Wallace & Tiernan installed the first successful solution-feed chlorinator at Hagerstown, MD. Over the next several years the Company grew rapidly, due mainly to Wallace’s inventiveness and Tiernan’s sharp business sense. The invention of the chlorinator is credited with the elimination of water-borne diseases which were all too common in the early 1900’s.
Growth continued as products were added: most were equipment developed to apply chlorine gas for such purpose as controlling slime in paper mills, bleaching in laundries and textile mills. Additional products were designed for feeding both dry and liquid chemicals into the water treating process. Other products were as diverse as one of the first battery clocks for homes and offices, marine lanterns, precision pressure measurement equipment and an automatic system for bakeries which produced bread dough at a rate of 6,000 loaves per hour.
Over the years, Wallace & Tiernan has brought innovation and product improvements to water and wastewater treatment installations throughout the world.
Today Wallace & Tiernan is a world leader in chemical feed and disinfection equipment for virtually any water or wastewater treatment application. They manufacture, sell and service chlorine gas dispensing and vaporizing equipment; analytical and control equipment for disinfection systems; liquid metering and dosing pumps; dry chemical feeders; pre-engineered systems for lime slaking, polymer-feed (liquid & dry), OSEC® on-site hypochlorite generation, chlorine-dioxide generation, dechlorination, UV disinfection systems, fluoridation; sulfur dioxide and ammonia gas feeders and vaporizing equipment; chlorine gas detectors; chlorine cylinder scales; flowmeters.
For process industries and other industrial applications where liquid or gas flow are used, Wallace & Tiernan has developed a complete line of variable area flowmeters (Varea-Meters® ) which combine high levels of performance with cost-effectiveness.
In 1997, Wallace & Tiernan relocated to a new custom-built, state-of-the-art facility in Vineland, NJ employing more than 150 people. Wallace & Tiernan is truly international in its operation with more than 500 employees outside of the U. S. with operating and manufacturing/business centers in Australia; Canada; England; France, Mexico; and Germany. Today, Wallace & Tiernan is part of the ChemFeed and Disinfection Group Siemens Water Technologies.