Smith Valve When he founded his company in the mid 1950s, James Dewolf Smith focused on the production of forged gate, globe and check valves for use primarily in the petrochemical industry. Ten years later he added a forged brass ball valve line to the production stream. By the mid 1970s, SMITH was one of the industry’ s largest producers of industrial gate, globe, check, and ball valves under the 2.5” size. The oil business was booming and producers were ordering valves at a remarkable rate.
