Lear Romec History

Founded in 1904, the firm produced a line of packings used to seal valves and steam fittings for the steam locomotive industry. The company was reorganized in 1914 and renamed The Martell Packing Company. In 1918, Martell acquired the basic patents for a unique vane pump from a firm called the ROtary Machine & Engineering Company – hence the name: ROMEC. The pump had light industrial uses and was excellent for handling fluids.

About the time of the Great Depression the U.S. Army Air Corps was experimenting with fuel injected, supercharged aircraft engines.  The gravity-feed fuel systems used previously would not permit aircraft to reach the altitudes or the speeds required of the emerging aircraft designs. In the late 1920’s, an enhanced Romec vane pump design proved to meet these demands and was selected as the pump of choice. Based on this success the company officially changed its name to The Romec Pump Company in 1931 and was in the business of providing aviation pumps.

The Romec Pump Co. merged with William P. Lear’s Lear Inc. in 1948 and became Lear-Romec Division of Lear Inc.  During the Lear years, Lear Romec developed the multi-element lube & scavenge pumps and centrifugal fuel boost pumps that would become two of our major product lines.  In the late 1950s, Bill Lear was determined to build a new turbine powered corporate aircraft aptly named the Lear Jet. To finance the project he was forced to sell his holdings in Lear, Inc., and an agreement was reached in 1962 with the Siegler Corp. resulting in the Romec Division of Lear Siegler, Inc.

Lear Romec remained with Lear Siegler until the late 1980’s when the company was sold to a company called BFM. In 1990, Crane Co. purchased Lear Romec and remains our parent corporation to this day. Crane Co. has invested heavily into Lear Romec with equipment, systems, and people to enable Lear Romec to compete in today’s environment.