History of Potters
For more than 80 years, our commitment to research and development has helped us to provide innovations, products and technology to meet the needs of customers around the world.
| 2007: | PQ Corporation acquired by Carlyle Group |
| In June 2007 it is agreed that PQ Corporation will be sold to Carlyle Group. The deal is expected to be completed during the third quarter 2007. | |
| 2007: | Potters Acquires Flex-O-Lite |
| With the acquisition of Flex-O-Lite Inc, Potters® product range is further expanded to include Hi-Index beads for surface reflectivity (signs and clothing), airport runways, and specialist highway uses. | |
| 2006: | PQ Celebrates 175 years |
| PQ can trace its beginnings back to a family soap and candle business opened in Philadelphia by Joseph Elkington in July 1831. | |
| 2006: | Technical Service Expanded |
| A Technical Engineer role is added to the European Technical Service team. This provides customers with on-site support for road-trial applications and enables customers achieve the very best application performance. The service includes measurement and monitoring of trial-site applications. | |
| 2005: | JP Morgan |
| In February 2005 PQ Corporation is sold to JP Morgan, after nearly 174 years in family ownership. | |
| 2004: | AC90 Coating |
| Potters celebrates 90 years of innovation with the launch of the new AC90 bead coating - the first and only performance coating suitable for use with all road-marking binders. | |
| 2003: | Interminglass |
| The success of the alliance with IMG leads to 100% acquisition of Interminglass into the Potters Group. With 5 sites across Europe, Potters has the largest geographical reach and is able to give not only the best but also the quickest service to customers. | |
| 2001: | Technical Centre |
| Customers demand for Potters' technical service continues to grow. The TEC's capacity is doubled once more to 4 times its pre-1999 capability. | |
| 2001: | Potters acquires majority shareholding in Interminglass in Poland. |
| To strengthen its operations in the eastern countries, Potters Europe enters into a strategic Alliance with Interminglass of Poland. | |
| 1999: | Technical Centre |
| Responding to ongoing success and demand from our customers, the TEC doubles its capacity for long term wear testing. | |
| 1998: | Wet Night Visibility |
| Following another breakthrough in glass bead technology, Potters introduces the Starlitebead® range, a new generation of high refractive large beads with superior optical performance. | |
| 1992: | Chemical |
| Potters introduces flotation/adhesion chemical treatments which enhance specific attributes of road marking materials. | |
| 1992: | Technical Centre |
| The TEC in St Pourçain - France - is created to provide both enhanced R&D capabilities and technical support to Potters Europe customers. | |
| 1988: | Wet Night Visibility |
| Potters introduces VISIBEAD® Safety Spheres that shine through the water film on roadways to provide consistently bright highway lines on rainy night. | |
| 1985: | Reflectivity Instrumentation |
| Patented technology to measure the reflectivity of highway lines; a mobile, laser-based, system ensures that highway lines are maintained at safe visibility levels. | |
| 1981: | Opening of St Pourçain plant in France |
| 1978: | Impaired Driver Research |
| Our driver performance studies lead to highway marking improvements that enhance safety and mobility for ageing motorists and other visually impaired drivers. | |
| 1978: | Glass Spheres for Hospital Flotation beds |
| Potters develops specially coated and sized glass spheres to support air-fluidised medical equipment for burn victims and patients with severe skin ulceration. | |
| 1977: | Potters joins the PQ Corporation |
| The similar, customer-responsive outlook of our respective organisations has led to a successful partnership. | |
| 1976: | Opening of West Auckland plant in UK |
| 1975: | EMI/RFI Shielding |
| Potters develops silver-coated glass beads for conductive applications in electronics, which leads to developing additives for electromagnetic shielding. | |
| 1975: | Oil Well Drilling |
| Specially developed glass spheres are added to drilling mud to increase lubricity and reduce required torque. | |
| 1970: | Support for Highway Safety Legislation |
| Potters develops a statistical database consolidating highway accident information, which is used to develop Federal highway safety legislation. | |
| 1968: | Opening of Kirchheimbolanden plant in Germany |
| In addition to road safety marking glass beads, this plant, with dedicated equipment, specialises in the manufacture of microspheres used as functional fillers in the engineering polymers. | |
| 1967: | Precision Peening Research |
| A four-year research programme on glass-bead-impact-blasting reveals metallurgical and environmental benefits. | |
| 1956: | Moisture proof treatment |
| A new moisture-proof treatment to ensure effective long-term storage is systematically applied to all glass beads manufactured by Potters. | |
| 1956: | Opening of Barnsley plant in UK |
| Potters Industries Inc. opens the very first glass bead production plant in Europe. | |
| 1948: | Xerography Medium |
| Potters manufactures glass spheres with high roundness, to replace sand as carrier particles for Xerox Corporation. | |
| 1934: | Glass Beads for Reflective Highway Markings |
| In response to growing concerns about highway safety, Potters reflective beads improve night-time visibility. | |
| 1922: | High Volume Furnace Technology |
| Large quantities of high refractive-index glass beads are produced to coat movie screens. | |
| 1918: | Invention of the Vertical Furnace |
| The company's core technology, the foundation of our growth to world leadership, is developed | |
| 1914: | Decorative Glass Products |
| Brothers Rudolph & Paul Potters begin producing glass beads and other decorative glass particles in New York. | |