Collegeville-based Superior Tube is celebrating its 90th anniversary, according to a staff report from The Tube and Pipe Journal.
The producer of precision small-diameter tubing manufactures specialty alloy tubes for a variety of industries, including nuclear power, aerospace, medical, and defense.
The company was founded in 1934. In the 1950s and 1960s, Superior Tube manufactured materials for the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, and the first civilian nuclear power plant, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station.
Over the following decade, the company grew its presence in aerospace. It manufactured titanium hydraulic line tubing for the Concorde supersonic jet as well as for the F-15 Eagle fighter plane.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the company continued to grow. It produced thin-wall tubing for life support systems in NASA’s Space Shuttle program and specialized tubing for next-generation coronary stents.
In the current century, Mars Orvers, Spirit, and Opportunity missions have used products made by Superior Tube.
The company currently collaborates with space OEMs to create tubes used in next-generation rockets and satellites.
Read more about Superior Tube in The Tube and Pipe Journal.
