Delta Faucet Company
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Delta Faucet Company is an American manufacturer of faucets. It is a subsidiary of Masco Corporation. It also manufactures and markets faucets under the Brizo and Peerless brand names.
Delta was originally owned by Masco Screw Corporation, which was founded in Detroit in 1929 by Armenian immigrant Alex Manoogian. In 1952, an eager inventor brought Manoogian his latest invention, a one-handled faucet that mixed both hot and cold water with a ball-valve. Unfortunately it leaked, but Manoogian saw potential. He therefore bought the faucet and its rights, perfected it, and released it. The name Delta came about because the valve's shape resembled the Greek letter of the same name.
The company was started in 1954 as a Masco subsidiary in the Detroit Michigan region. In 1958, the company opened a manufacturing facility in Greensburg, Indiana by Alex Manoogian. In 1976, another facility in Chickasha, Oklahoma was opened followed by Jackson, Tennessee in 1995. The company operates three more manufacturing facilities outside the United States, them being two in Ontario, Canada and one in Panyu, China. Manoogian developed the first washerless ball valve faucet. The company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana
In 2004, the company launched a premium brand (Brizo) to replace the Delta Select line. The Greensburg, Indiana facility was named as the new products facility while Jackson, Tennessee was the main shipping point with the company's distribution facility being there.
On January 17, 2006, Delta Faucet Company announced the closure of the Chickasha, Oklahoma facility. The closure is to occur in phases over 9-11 months.
[edit] "Beautifully Engineered"
Delta's single-handle (hot and cold controlled by the same knob) ball-type controls are arguably the epitome of engineering elegance, to the point of the company's slogan, "Beautifully Engineered". They also compete favorably with Moen and American Standard faucets as a trio of manufacturers extremely well-regarded in the plumbing field, and all have lifetime warranties.
Almost all Delta single-handle faucets, with the exception of newer temperature-compensating bathtub/shower controls, use an elegantly simple ball mechanism.
As the handle is pushed away from the user (or up, with a tub/shower control), holes in a stainless steel (or plastic, with similar design imitators) ball align with holes machined into the faucet's base, allowing water to pass. As the ball is tilted toward the left (as with North American convention of the hot control on the left and cold on the right), better alignment with the left ports allow more hot water; conversely, leaning the ball towards the right allows more cold water. A variant (used primarily on Delta's Peerless brand) requires twisting the knob toward the desired temperature rather than leaning.
