Cameron International Corporation: Power in Diversity

Cameron International Corporation is a world leader in pressure control and compression systems. It also provides project management and after sales services to the gas and oil industry. It has close to 20,000 employees and is based in Houston, Texas. It was formerly known as Cooper Cameron Corporation until its name was changed in 2006 to Cameron, its official name.

The roots of Cooper Industries can be traced to the foundry founded by Elias and Charles Cooper in Mt. Vernon, Ohio in 1833. In 1869, Cooper was given the license to manufacture the Corliss steam engine.

A merger was formed in 1929 between Cooper and Bessemer Gas Engine Company and Cooper was renamed to Cooper-Bessemer. When the En-Tronic Controls Group was established in 1958, Cooper started it diversification to the controls industry. Cooper started in compressors manufacturing in 1963 as the acquisition of Ajax Engines Company.

Cooper started to diversify into automotive, electrical, tools and other hardware materials. A joint venture was forged with Rolls Royce in 1968 that was named Cooper Rolls. The joint venture was for Cooper to produce gas turbines for Rolls Royce.

In 1987, Cooper acquired Joy Industrial Compressor Group and was renamed as Cooper Turbocompressor. In that same year, the Demco Valve Company was also acquired. In 1988, the Enterprise Engine, an after sales service company was acquired, too.

The most important acquisition of Cooper was in 1989 when Cameron Iron Works was acquired and was renamed as Cooper Oil Tool. A spun off of Cooper Industries’ Petroleum and Industrial Equipment Group was done in 1994 so Cooper can focus on automotive, electrical and tools. Cooper Cameron was spun off in 1995 and became a public company.

Cooper Cameron Corporation was officially renamed as Cooper International Corporation in 2006.