Sewer Equipment of Dixon, formerly of Chadwick, hits a milestone

DIXON – In June, Sewer Equipment, an 82-year-old company at 1790 Dutch Road, manufactured its 10,000th unit, a Sewer Equipment Co. of America Model 900 ECO combination sewer cleaner truck, it said in a news release Wednesday.

The privately held company, formerly called Sewer Equipment Co. of America, was founded in 1941 by H.T. O’Brien in a garage in Park Ridge.

O’Brien began with a simple invention, a tool to unclog kitchen sinks.

“O’Brien was tinkering in his garage when he connected a hand drill to a two-foot piece of flexible cable. He quickly discovered this simple tool could safely and effectively open a clogged kitchen sink, better than anything he had ever used,” the company said on its website. “He built a few dozen of these tools, put them in the trunk of his car, and drove into Chicagoland to call on plumbers, hospitals, restaurants and hotels. Soon, a company was born.”

The company moved from Chicago to Maquoketa, Iowa in the early 1970s, and to Chadwick in the 1980s.

A little more than two decades later, It relocated to Dixon.

Today, it makes sewer equipment for municipalities, industrial contractors, and plumbing companies.

For information, go to sewerequipment.com.