🏭 Origins: Worthington’s Water‑Meter Legacy (1855–1920)

Henry R. Worthington patented the first successful American water meter in 1855, a duplex‑piston design that became the standard for U.S. waterworks by the 1880s. Scientific American reported 20,000 Worthington meters in daily use by 1880.

Worthington’s early meters were manufactured in Brooklyn, New York, remained on the market into the early 20th century.

This early Worthington lineage forms the technological ancestry of the later Worthington–Gamon company.

⚙️ Formation of Worthington–Gamon (c.1920s)

Although the exact founding date is not explicitly stated in surviving sources, the Worthington–Gamon Meter Company is documented as active by the early 1940s, manufacturing disc‑type water meters in Newark, New Jersey.

Smithsonian records list multiple Worthington–Gamon meters made after 1941. 🔄 The Worthington–Gamon Product Line (1920s–1950s)

The company specialized in disc water meters, a dominant U.S. design for residential and small‑commercial metering.

Key Products;

* Disc Water Meter —

The primary product. Smithsonian examples include serial numbers 3,783,592 and 3,786,593, bronze‑bodied, Newark‑made.

These meters were produced after 1941, when the company claimed 3,650,000 meters in service.

This placed Worthington–Gamon among the largest U.S. meter manufacturers of the mid‑20th century.

* Bronze‑case residential meters — Standard for U.S. utilities in the 1930s–1950s. 🟦 Worthington “Watch Dog” Water Meter

The “Watch Dog” was a tamper‑resistant disc water meter designed to “guard” municipal revenue. Reinforced bronze castings, sealed registers, and non‑reversible gearing prevented fraud, while a sensitive measuring chamber detected even the smallest leaks or unauthorized trickle flows. Used in industrial plants and high‑risk service connections, the Watch Dog exemplified mid‑century efforts to secure water systems against loss and manipulation.

👉 Corporate Evolution and Fate

Worthington → Worthington–Gamon → absorption into larger industrial groups

The Worthington Pump & Machinery Corporation (the parent lineage of Henry R. Worthington’s enterprises) underwent multiple mergers in the mid‑20th century.

👉 The Company 1950s–1960s The Worthington name became part of Worthington Corporation, later merging into Studebaker‑Worthington (1967), and eventually into McGraw‑Edison and Dresser Industries.

Inference:

Worthington–Gamon’s water‑meter division was likely absorbed during these consolidations, ceasing to exist as an independent brand by the 1960s.