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Payen®: 100 Years of Sealing Solutions
Few product categories can approach gaskets, seals and head bolts when it comes to both the scope and rate of innovation over the past century. And few, if any, sealing brands can match the heritage of quality of Federal-Mogul’s Payen® product line, which is celebrating its centenary in 2008.
Although the Payen story actually can be traced to the 1890’s in Lyon, France, the brand’s roots are more solidly based in the decision to dispatch J. Payen from France to London in 1908 to open a gaskets business. Since then, Payen products have been manufactured under a variety of names, all traceable to J. Payen Ltd. and Coopers Mechanical Joints Ltd., of England.
Each of the World Wars played significant roles in the company’s expanded capabilities and sales growth. In particular, Payen began to manufacture and finish its own gasket materials when its supplies from the Continent were interrupted by World War I. Demand for its finished products – including head gaskets – grew dramatically as the armed forces expanded production and maintenance of planes, trucks, tanks and ships.
