Mueller Co.

Mueller Co. was founded in 1857 by Hieronymus Mueller as "H. Mueller, Gun Shop". Mueller closed the business briefly in 1858 to prospect for gold in Colorado, but returned to his business not long after, expanding it to include sewing machine and clock repairs and the sale of hunting and fishing equipment in addition to gunsmithing. The plant closed at the end of the war, and the property was sold in 1948. 2021 Mueller Co. Shooting On June 15, 2021 at 2:22 AM, an employee at the Mueller Co. plant in Albertville, Alabama walked into the plant armed with a handgun and opened fire on an unknown number of people. At 2:30 AM, emergency services received the first call of the shooting. At approximately 2:32 AM, first responders began arriving on scene. By 2:35 AM, police had made entry into the plant searching for the shooter, and began evacuating employees. Authorities discovered 4 victims in different parts of the plant and immediately began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and other life saving measures on the victims. At 2:53 AM, an ambulance arrived and transported one victim to hospital, and another one half an hour later. The two other victims were fatally wounded and died on scene. Police initially thought that it was still an active shooter situation for half an hour before they realized the shooter was no longer in the plant. At approximately 6:00 AM, police located the suspect's body in neighboring Guntersville, Alabama, having died by suicide. The investigation is still ongoing and a motive for the attack has not been established. ==Acquisitions and mergers==

In 1923, Mueller Co. acquired the National Casting Company and established the Mueller Iron Foundry Company. The iron foundry became part of Mueller Co. in 1928, and continued operation until the mid-1950s. In 1965, Mueller Co. bought the Los Angeles-based Adams Clamp Company and moved its production operations first to Decatur, Illinois, and later to its current location in Cleveland, Tennessee. In 1996, Henry Pratt Company, a manufacturer of butterfly and other specialty valves, and James Jones Company became subsidiaries of Mueller Co. ==Brands and subsidiaries==

In 2012, Mueller Co. expanded its research and development capabilities with the creation of the Mueller Co. Technology Center (MTC) in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The MTC combined existing R&D facilities in Chattanooga with operations that were relocated from a Rhode Island facility and from several manufacturing facilities. The decision to consolidate Mueller's R&D activities in Chattanooga was intended to improve communications between researchers and manufacturers within the company. ==Technologies==

Technologies developed and improved by Mueller Co. and its subsidiaries throughout its history are used in and have improved infrastructures around the world. United States Patent #251726A was issued to Hieronymus Mueller in 1892 for a water pressure regulator. In 1913, modified versions of this valve were used to keep ships from accidentally running into the gates of the Panama Canal. Today, as many as 95 valves based on Mueller's original design are still used to protect the canal's system of locks. Mi.Echo combines Mueller Systems' Mueller Infrastructure Network (Mi.Net), a two-way advanced metering infrastructure, with Echologics' compact, non-invasive, acoustic leak detection system, LeakFinderRT. ==Sustainability==

Mueller Co. uses a number of sustainable manufacturing and business practices. It is among the leading manufacturers in the use of the lost-foam casting process, which reduces the amount of required materials for casting and reduces the amount of waste and emissions generated by the casting process. Mueller Co. has also been a member of the Lost Foam Casting Consortium at the University of Alabama Birmingham, which is involved in improvements to the technology and growth in markets for the process. Mueller Co. offers all of its waterworks brass products in low-lead varieties., and the majority of the company's brass and iron castings contain recycled material from both post-consumer and industrial scrap. ==References==