Even before the U.S. officially entered World War I, there was a shortage of facilities for manufacturing seamless copper and brass tubes. This was because of the tremendous number of trucks and products with brass and copper components being exported to the Allies. Government priorities were in effect at the time because of the shortage of manufacturing facilities. At that time, there were only eight companies producing small non-ferrous tubes:

• French Manufacturing Company
• A.H. Wells & Company
• Roberts Tube Works
• Rome Hollow Wire & Tube Company
• United Wire & Supply Company
• Erie Buffalo Tube Company
• Claussen Tube Works
• Mackenzie-Walton Company

The Long Manufacturing Company of Detroit, Michigan, manufactured radiators using seamless tubes. They were having difficulty getting timely deliveries of tubes for their radiator production, and they believed the war would probably continue for several years. To improve that situation, they decided to open a small tube redrawing mill in Detroit with the specific purpose of making and selling tube to Long Manufacturing Company. In November 1916, Wolverine Tube Company was organized and a 6,600 square-foot mill was built.


While the majority of the tube redrawn at the new company was sold to Long, the demand for tubing in the automobile industry quickly attracted other customers. By April 1918, the mill was running two shifts-a day shift of 10½ hours and a night shift of 12 hours. The biggest difficulty at the time was getting base size tubes and getting them redrawn quickly enough for the customers.

Wolverine Tube Company was incorporated by people who were primarily interested in getting tube during the war, and when business began to drop off after the war, they were ready to dispose of their interests in the new business. In April 1919, they sold the company to three men, two of whom had years of experience selling copper tube.

The new owners combined their experience with enthusiasm, and immediately set about making changes to the company. They had invested their life savings into the business, and that was good incentive for them to strive for success. Of course, over their years of selling tubes, they had made many connections; as soon as they started with their new company, orders began to roll in from their old customers. In fact, some of the automobile companies cancelled their orders with other tube companies and placed them with Wolverine instead.

From the time they took over the company, the new owners recognized that the seamless copper and brass tube industry was in its infancy, and they wanted to build a much larger organization. One of the first things that became apparent to them was that they needed more experienced men to supervise the plant operations, so they hired two experienced tube mill men to help with production problems.

Next, the executives of Wolverine realized that the plant would have to be much larger if they were to increase business significantly. Within a month of entering the business, the started to look for another plant. They finally found a location that would be large enough for expansion and was close enough to a railroad siding. In November 1919, the operations were moved into a building at the new location. It was there that the continuous growth of the Wolverine began.

200 Clinton Avenue W., Suite 1000, Huntsville, AL 35801
Phone: 256.890.0460     FAX: 256.890.0470

© 2001 Wolverine Tube, Inc.