Watts Water Technologies Inc
A maker of plumbing, heating, and water-quality products for homes, commercial buildings, and municipalities — its brands include AERCO water heaters, Ames fire-protection gear, and Bradley washroom fixtures. It began in 1874 when English immigrant and machinist Joseph Watts opened a small machine shop in Lawrence, Massachusetts to build regulators that stopped deadly boiler explosions in textile mills. The company still carries his name, and it helped pioneer the temperature-and-pressure relief valve that became a standard safety feature in water heaters.