View source for Babcock & Wilcox

{{Short description|American power technology company}}
{{distinguish|Babcock International}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc.
| logo = Babcock & Wilcox logo.svg
| former_name = The Babcock & Wilcox Company
| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| traded_as = {{Unbulleted list|{{NYSE|BW}}|[[Russell 2000]] component}}
| area_served = Worldwide
| key_people = {{ubl 
 | Kenny Young ([[Chairman and CEO]]) 
 }}
| industry = {{ubl|Power|Industrial}}
| revenue = {{increase}} {{US$|999|link=yes}} [[1,000,000|million]]
| revenue_year = 2023
| num_employees = 2,250
| num_employees_year = 2023
| homepage = {{URL|babcock.com}}
| founded = {{Start date and age|1867}} in [[Providence, Rhode Island]]
| founders = {{ubl|[[Stephen Wilcox]]|[[George Herman Babcock]]}}
| location_city = [[Akron, Ohio]]
| location_country = United States
| footnotes = <ref name=AR>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1630805/000163080524000014/bw-20231231.htm |title=2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K) |date=March 15, 2024 |publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission}}</ref>
}}

'''Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc.''' is an American energy technology and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets with its headquarters in [[Akron, Ohio]]. Historically, the company is best known for their [[steam boiler]]s.

==Background==
The company was founded in 1867 in [[Providence, Rhode Island]], by partners [[Stephen Wilcox]] and [[George Herman Babcock|George Babcock]] to manufacture and market Wilcox's patented [[water-tube boiler]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Babcock & Wilcox Company|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/babcock-wilcox-company|website=Encyclopedia.com|publisher=Thomson Gale|access-date=10 March 2017}}</ref> B&W's list of innovations and firsts include the world's first installed utility boiler (1881); manufacture of boilers to power New York City's first subway (1902); first [[pulverized coal]] power plant (1918); design and manufacture of components for {{USS|Nautilus|SSN-571|6}}, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine (1953–55); the first [[supercritical boiler|supercritical pressure]] coal-fired boiler (1957); design and supply of reactors for the first U.S. built nuclear-powered surface ship, {{Ship|NS|Savannah}} (1961).<ref name=":1">''Steam/its generation and use'', 41st Edition</ref>

==History==
[[File:Babcock Wilcox logo.png|thumb|upright|The old B&W company logo, showing the world as an [[Aeolipile]]]]
The company was founded in 1867 by [[Stephen Wilcox]], Jr. and his partner [[George Herman Babcock]] with the intention of building safer steam boilers. Stephen Wilcox first avowed that “there must be a better way” to safely generate power, and he and George Babcock responded with the design for the first inherently safe water-tube boiler. B&W was the main builder of naval boilers for American forces during World War II, and were a supplier to the [[Manhattan Project]]. After the war they entered the [[nuclear reactor]] business, and became a major supplier for commercial nuclear power plants. They also built naval nuclear reactors, including for the [[NS Savannah|first commercial nuclear ship]]. In 2000 the company filed for bankruptcy due to lawsuits from employees over [[asbestos]] exposure; they emerged from bankruptcy in 2006.[[File:Babcock & Wilcox Co - Works - Bayonne, New Jersey - circa 1919.jpeg|thumb|Babcock & Wilcox Co. works, [[Bayonne, New Jersey]], {{Circa|1919}}]]
[[File:Babcock and Wilcox boiler, section (Heat Engines, 1913).jpg|thumb|1913 Babcock & Wilcox boiler section]][[File:Babcock & Wilcox logo (uploaded 2019).svg|thumb|207x207px|Current logo without the "Babcock & Wilcox" text]]

* In 1867,  [[Stephen Wilcox]], Jr. and his partner [[George Herman Babcock]], of Providence, Rhode Island,   patented their so-called safety boiler (“Improvements in Steam Generators,” U.S. Patent No. 65,042). Its water was dispersed in many small tubes that resisted exploding when heated, a significant advance over conventional shell boilers, whose water was concentrated in a single container. When overheated, seams of the shell could burst, causing an explosion, often with fatal consequences. The water tube boiler had the added advantages that it could generate steam under higher pressure and more efficiently than existing designs.<ref name="About B&W - History">{{cite web|url=http://www.babcock.com/about/history.html|title=About B&W - History|access-date=2009-04-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090401031434/http://www.babcock.com/about/history.html|archive-date=1 April 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Swett |first=Steven C. |author-link=Steven C. Swett |title=The Metalworkers |date=30 June 2022 |publisher=The Baltimore Museum of Industry |isbn=978-0-578-28250-3 |pages=214–220}}</ref>

*In 1878, [[Thomas Edison]] purchased B&W boiler No. 92 for his [[Menlo Park, New Jersey|Menlo Park]] laboratory.<ref name=":1" />
* In 1891, [[Babcock & Wilcox Ltd]] is established as a separate United Kingdom company, to be responsible for all sales outside the US and Cuba.<ref name="established">"[http://www.nahste.ac.uk/cgi-bin/view_isad.pl?id=GB-0248-UGD-309&view=basic Records of Babcock International Group plc] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120714222855/http://www.nahste.ac.uk/cgi-bin/view_isad.pl?id=GB-0248-UGD-309&view=basic |date=2012-07-14 }}." Glasgow University Archive Services</ref>
* In 1895, Supply of steam furnaces of Kahrizak sugar factory, Tehran, Iran <ref>نورایی. کارخانه قند [https://www.noormags.ir/view/en/articlepage/22786/57 کهریزک] و اسناد نویافته. تاریخ روابط خارجی. 2007 Dec 22;33(8):32-90.</ref>
* In 1898, Robert Jurenka and Alois Seidl signed an agreement with the British division of [[Babcock & Wilcox Ltd]] to make the [[Berlin, Germany]] Babcock sales office into a [[Deutsche Babcock|subsidiary]] of the British company; a factory in [[Oberhausen]] in the [[Ruhr district]] made the boiler designed by the American engineers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/DEUTSCHE-BABCOCK-AG-Company-History.html|title=Deutsche Babcock AG--Company History|publisher=fundinguniverse.com|access-date=2010-05-25}}</ref>
* In 1902, the New York City's first subway is powered by B&W boilers.<ref name="Babcock & Wilcox - Archiveshub.ac.uk - Records of Babcock International Group plc">{{cite web|url=http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/0609babcock.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121223084848/http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/0609babcock.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-12-23|title=Records of Babcock International Group plc, boiler makers and engineers, England|access-date=2009-04-28}}</ref>
* During 1907 and 1909 [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s [[Great White Fleet]] were powered by B&W Boilers.
* In 1923, both Babcock & Wilcox Ltd and The Babcock & Wilcox Company buy into [[Goldie & McCulloch|The Goldie & McCulloch Company Ltd]] of [[Cambridge, Ontario|Cambridge]], [[Ontario]], to form Babcock-Wilcox & Goldie-McCulloch Ltd in [[Canada]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.babcock.com/en/about/history|title=History|website=www.babcock.com|access-date=2017-09-11}}</ref>
* In 1929, B&W installs the world's first commercial size [[recovery boiler]] using the [[magnesium]] [[bisulfite]] process in [[Quebec]], Canada.<ref name="B&W Power Generation Group: Company History">{{cite web|url=http://www.babcock.com/business_units/power_gen_group/facts_co_history.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206113649/http://www.babcock.com/business_units/power_gen_group/facts_co_history.html|archive-date=2008-02-06|title=B&W Power Generation Group: Company History|access-date=2009-04-01}}</ref>
* Between 1941 and 1945 B&W designed and delivered 4,100 marine boilers for combat and merchant ships, including 95 percent of the US fleet in [[Tokyo Bay]] at [[Surrender of Japan|Japanese surrender]].
* In 1942, the company developed the [[cyclone furnace]].
* Between 1943 and 1945, B&W provided components, materials and process development for [[Manhattan Project]].<ref name="About B&W - History" />
* In 1948, Babcock and Wilcox was at the center of a labor dispute with the [[Quarry Workers' International Union of North America|United Stone and Allied Products Workers of America]]. The [[National Labor Relations Board]] held that during [[captive audience meetings]], the union was entitled to equal time. This was later overturned in ''Livingston Shirt Corp.''<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Babcock & Wilcox |vol=77 |court=NLRB |opinion=577 |year=1948 |url=https://casetext.com/admin-law/the-babcock-wilcox-co-6 }}</ref><ref>''Livingston Shirt Corp.'', 107 NLRB 400 (1953).</ref>
* Between 1949 and 1952, B&W provided the 8 boilers for the {{SS|United States}}, the fastest ocean liner ever constructed.
* Between 1953 and 1955, B&W designed and fabricated components for {{USS|Nautilus|SSN-571}}, world's first nuclear-powered submarine.
* In 1961, B&W designed and supplied reactors for world's first commercial nuclear ship {{Ship|NS|Savannah}}.
* In 1962, B&W designed and furnished reactor systems for B&W's first commercial reactor, [[Indian Point Energy Center|Indian Point]], NY, using HEU 233.
* In 1967, the name of Babcock-Wilcox & Goldie-McCulloch Ltd is changed to Babcock & Wilcox Canada Ltd.<ref name=":0" />
* In 1975, B&W designed and built components for [[Liquid metal cooled reactor|liquid metal]] fast [[breeder reactor]]s.
* In 1975, the long-term business agreements with the British [[Babcock & Wilcox Ltd]] were ended. Subsequently, the British company was renamed [[Babcock International Group plc]].
* In 1978, B&W designed and built the [[Nuclear reactor technology|nuclear reactor]] that was involved in the [[Three Mile Island accident]].
* In 1999, B&W was awarded the contract to develop [[fuel cell]]s and [[Fossil fuel reforming|steam reforming]] for [[United States Navy|US Navy]].
* On February 22, 2000, B&W filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in part as a result of thousands of claims for personal injury due to prolonged exposure to [[asbestos]] and [[asbestos fibers]]. Claims included [[asbestosis]], [[lung cancer]], [[pleural]] and [[peritoneal mesothelioma]]. As a condition of emerging from [[bankruptcy]], B&W created a trust fund to compensate victims for amounts far less than settlements paid in individual personal injury lawsuits.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Babcock+%26+Wilcox+Bankruptcy+Reorganization+Bar+Date+Notice+and+Claims...-a067463016 |title=Babcock & Wilcox Bankruptcy Reorganization Bar Date Notice and Claims Process Begins; Includes Apollo and Parks Township, Pennsylvania Nuclear Contamination And Radiation Claims |access-date=2022-01-25 |archive-date=2016-03-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313074713/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Babcock+%26+Wilcox+Bankruptcy+Reorganization+Bar+Date+Notice+and+Claims...-a067463016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=McDermott Announces Bankruptcy Court Action on Babcock & Wilcox's Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization|url=https://www.mcdermott-investors.com/news/historical-mcdermott-news/historical-mcdermott-news-details/2004/McDermott-Announces-Bankruptcy-Court-Action-on-Babcock--Wilcoxs-Chapter-11-Plan-of-Reorganization/default.aspx|access-date=2021-09-08|website=www.mcdermott-investors.com|language=en-US}}</ref>
* After B&W emerged from bankruptcy in 2006, B&W and [[BWX Technologies]], both subsidiaries of the McDermott International, Inc., merged on 26 November 2007 to form The Babcock & Wilcox Companies, headed by President John Fees. The old company logo was changed.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Babcock & Wilcox restructures operations : Other News - World Nuclear News|url=https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/industry/Babcock_Wilcox_restructures_operations-281107.shtml|access-date=2021-09-08|website=www.world-nuclear-news.org}}</ref>
*On June 10, 2009, B&W unveiled B&W Modular Nuclear Energy, LLC (B&W MNE).<ref>[http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/47655382.html Babcock & Wilcox plans modular reactor] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615163708/http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/47655382.html|date=June 15, 2011}}</ref> On the same day, B&W MNE announced its plans to design and develop the [[B&W mPower]] reactor, a modular, scalable nuclear reactor. The B&W mPower reactor design is a 125 megawatt, passively safe Advanced Light Water Reactor (ALWR) (a [[Generation III reactor]]) with a below-ground containment structure.<ref>[http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-BandW_unveils_modular_reactor_design-1006095.html B&W unveils modular nuclear power design]</ref> The reactor is set to be manufactured in a factory, shipped by rail, then buried underground.<ref>{{cite news|last=DiSavino|first=Scott|date=Jun 10, 2009|title=McDermott B&W unit unveils small nuclear reactor|publisher=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSN1044654820090610|access-date=Jun 10, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Katherine Ling and GreenWire|date=June 10, 2009|title=Company Calls New Small Nuclear Reactor a 'Game Changer'|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/06/10/10greenwire-company-calls-new-small-nuclear-reactor-a-game-45123.html|access-date=June 10, 2009}}</ref>
* On May 12, 2010, B&W announced that it and its subsidiaries would be spun off from its parent company, McDermott International, Inc.<ref>Gentry, B.:[https://archive.today/20110807085420/http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/business/local/article/fees_bw_spinoff_aiming_for_june_30_completion/26899/], [[The News & Advance]], May 12, 2010</ref> The headquarters moved from [[Lynchburg, Virginia]] to Charlotte.<ref name="Peralta">{{cite news|url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article23562604.html|title=Babcock & Wilcox approves spinoff, sets split date for July 1 |last=Peralta|first=Katherine|work=[[The Charlotte Observer]]|date=June 9, 2015|access-date=July 3, 2015}}</ref> and the company became The Babcock & Wilcox Company.
* On August 2, 2010, B&W began trading on the [[New York Stock Exchange]] as BWC.<ref>{{cite web
  | title = The Babcock & Wilcox Company Begins Trading Today on the New York Stock Exchange
  | publisher = BUSINESS WIRE
  | url = http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=236851&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1455002&highlight=
  | date = Aug 2, 2010
  | access-date = Aug 4, 2010 }}</ref>
* On June 30, 2015, Babcock & Wilcox completed a [[Corporate spin-off|spinoff]] from [[BWX Technologies]], its former parent company. The two companies began trading separately on July 1 when Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol: BW.<ref name="Downey">{{cite news|last=Downey|first=John|date=July 1, 2015|title=Babcock & Wilcox completes spinoff; two independent companies begin public trading|work=[[Charlotte Business Journal]]|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/energy/2015/07/babcock-wilcox-completes-spinoff-two-independent.html|access-date=July 2, 2015}}</ref>
*On September 24, 2018, Babcock & Wilcox announced that it would move its corporate headquarters from Charlotte to [[Akron, Ohio]], into space formerly occupied by the [[Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company]] prior to its move to a new building nearby.
*On December 30, 2019, Babcock & Wilcox relocated its corporate headquarters from [[Barberton, Ohio]], to Akron, Ohio.

==Football==

The company had works [[association football]] teams which played at senior level in Scotland and the United States; [[Babcock & Wilcox F.C.]] reached the second round of the [[Scottish Cup]] on two occasions, and the [[Babcock_%26_Wilcox_(soccer)|American side]] was runner-up once in the [[American Cup]].

==See also==
* [[Steam generator (boiler)]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
{{refbegin}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Babcock & Wilcox Ltd}}
* {{Finance links
| symbol = BW
| sec_cik = BW
| google = NYSE:BW
| yahoo = BW
| bloomberg = BW:US
| reuters = BW
| nasdaq = BW
}}
* {{Official website|http://www.babcock.com/}}
* {{Gutenberg book|22657|author=Babcock & Wilcox Co.|edition=35th ed.|title=Steam, Its Generation and Use|year=1919|publisher=Bartlett Orr Press}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babcock and Wilcox}}
[[Category:Manufacturing companies based in Ohio]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1867]]
[[Category:Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange]]
[[Category:Nuclear technology companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Companies based in Akron, Ohio]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1867]]
[[Category:1867 establishments in Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000]]
[[Category:Electrical engineering companies of the United States]]