Innovation is in our DNA
Fulton was founded by Lewis Palm, a pioneer in the engineering of steam equipment for the laundry and dry-cleaning markets. One afternoon in 1947, when Lewis was managing the Sunlight Laundry of Fulton, NY, the plant’s steam boiler failed. This event inspired him to reimagine the boiler’s design: he had the idea to vertically orient the boiler, creating a smaller footprint and modifying the design to make it more reliable. Lewis invented the Vertical Tubeless Boiler in a small garage next to his home, and upon the receipt of his first sale, he tied the boiler to the trunk of his car and drove it hundreds of miles from New York to Michigan.
Within just a few short years, this same boiler would become the most popular model on the market for dry cleaners and launderers nationally. The highly-skilled staff who fabricated Fulton boilers were ingenuity experts, producing an extraordinarily high number of boilers annually – approximately 2,000 – in an era before high-tech tools and technology were implemented to streamline production.
A Heritage of Heat Transfer
Lewis built his business based on serving customers better than anyone else with innovative products providing the lowest total cost of ownership, superior reliability, and forging strong partnerships in the boiler industry. Today, the third and fourth generation of the Palm family continue to honor these principles and bring a renewed dedication to innovative technologies at Fulton.
Still headquartered in northern New York, our family is committed to leveraging our strong culture of customer service, global resources, and state-of-the-art Research & Development to be the premier provider of boiler room solutions.
A Tradition of Success
Humble Beginnings
Lewis Palm invents the Vertical Tubeless Boiler and builds the first one in his garage using scrap metal from a local scrapyard. Shortly thereafter, in 1949, Fulton Boiler Works was formed.
Global Manufacturing
Fulton expands manufacturing to Bristol, England to serve the European market and other Export markets.
More than Just Steam
Lewis’ son, Ronald develops a heater that incorporates the interaction of fluid spinning at high velocity with high-spin flame, hooked up to a hose to monitor the progression of fluid entry. Eventually, he integrates coils into the design, obtains a patent, and enters the Thermal Fluid Heater Market.
Into the Great White North
Fulton expands its North American operations to include Canada, with operations based in Toronto.
Hydronic Innovation
Lewis’ grandson, Bram enters the business and earns Fulton a leading position in the emerging ultra-high efficiency Condensing Hydronic Boiler market with the breakthrough Pulse Combustion design.
Expanding Global Capabilities
Fulton continues its interest in global markets with a venture into Asia in the 1990s. In 1995, Fulton China in Hangzhou was founded, with further Chinese growth in 2003 with Fulton Ningbo. Fulton China facilities today contribute 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space to the company.
Bringing the Heat
Additional growth of Fulton comes by way of the purchase of Volcanic Heater. With locations in Alliance, Ohio, and Houston, TX, Volcanic is a premier manufacturer of heaters for both marine and land-based customers.
Control Solutions
Fulton leads the market with the introduction of cutting-edge controls technology, with the release of the ModSync Sequencing System. The ModSync platform quickly expands into numerous applications for customized control of modular boiler plants.
Setting the Standard Again
Fulton radically challenges the industry status quo resulting in game-changing new boiler designs including the VSRT Boiler and the ENDURA+ boiler, culminating in more than 25 new patents worldwide.