Our story began in Elgin, Illinois in 1864 with the founding of a watchmaking factory that evolved over the next 100 years into the largest factory of its kind in the world. In the 1970’s Elgin began pursuing the mining industry, acquiring a family of companies to establish a new direction for Elgin National Industries. Since then, Elgin has evolved into a worldwide leader in design, manufacturing and service of specialized processing equipment in the oil & gas, mining (coal, aggregates, minerals), rendering, dredging, water intake, and pipeline construction industries.

Elgin’s water intake division began in 1999 with the founding of Cook Legacy Coating Company in Ohio. Founder Lee Cook developed and patented a copper nickel coating process to prevent intake screen fouling by zebra mussels, a new enemy of intakes discovered in the Great Lakes in 1988. Cook Legacy continued to grow and offer more comprehensive intake systems such as cylindrical screens, air cleaning systems, and Coanda screens. Cook Legacy joined the Elgin family in 2011, becoming a division of Norris Screen & Manufacturing, a leading wedge wire screen fabricator since 1977. 

Elgin’s water division continues to pursue new technologies and expand its offerings, all while relentlessly refining its standard offerings. Our design group in Ohio can tackle whatever problem you are facing, and the experienced team at Norris Screen & Manufacturing will deliver the product on time and on budget.