THE ANVIL STORY

Our History

Anvil Innovations formally known as Anvil Attachments has a rich history of commitment as a grab manufacturer dating back for over 100 years.   Anvil owns and builds grabs based on several brand names dating back to the early 1900s. These brands include Owen, Yaun-Williams, Drott, Pro-Line, and Hawco.

  • Owen Bucket Company was formed in Cleveland, Ohio.

  • Edward Drott founded Drott Tractor Company in his home town of Butternut, Wisconsin. It was moved to Wausau, Wisconsin, in 1923. Drott was well known for their 4-in-1 Bucket.

  • Yaun Welding and Dragline Buckets was formed in Baton Rouge.

  • Hawco was established in Slaughter, Louisiana as a rebuilder of clamshell buckets and grapples. As Hawco's customer base and revenues grew, the company hired experienced engineers and began designing and fabricating new cable driven clamshell buckets and grapples. By the early 1980s, Hawco was well established as one of the leading manufacturers of grabs in North America. During the mid-1980s, Hawco expanded its product line by adding hydraulic and electro-hydraulic designs. Since then, Hawco has grown to be North America's largest supplier of clamshell buckets and grapples.

  • The Yaun-Williams Bucket Co. was formed in Louisiana, this was a merger between Williams Bucket Division of Atlas Car Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, Ohio and Yaun Manufacturing of Baton Rouge.

  • Anvil Attachments Industries was formed in Ohio.

  • Owens Bucket Company was sold to Anvil Attachments Industries of Ohio

  • Pro-Line Buckets and Grapples founded in Houston, Texas.

  • D&S Manufacturing Co., Black River Falls, Wisconsin acquires the Anvil Attachments division of Intergy Inc.

  • Pro-Line Machine & Repair Co., Houston, purchased the Anvil Attachments line from D&S Manufacturing Co., Black River Falls, Wisconsin, planning to manufacture various new products under the Anvil name. In the purchase, Pro-Line acquires the brands Yaun-Williams and Owens.

  • Pro-Line Buckets & Grapples of Houston and Hawco Manufacturing Co. LLC, Slaughter, La., merged to form a larger clamshell bucket and grapple-manufacturing firm. The new company used the name Anvil Attachments, choosing an existing Pro-Line brand as its corporate name.

  • Anvil Innovations will continue to provide parts, service, and engineering of new and existing units under the names Anvil, Pro-Line, Hawco, Owen, Yaun, Williams, and Drott. These product lines offer a broad array of attachments for cable, hydraulic and electro-hydraulic operated units.

About Anvil

Anvil Innovations is one of the oldest suppliers of grabs, grapples, and clamshell buckets for bulk material handling. Anvil has been supplying products under various brand names since 1905.

Today, Anvil Innovations continues to supply high-quality material handling products under the brand name Hawco, Pro-Line, Anvil, Owen, Yaun, Williams, and Drott. Anvil's testament to quality shows in that many of these products are still in use today.

Anvil supplies grapples and buckets in hydraulic, electro-hydraulic, diesel-hydraulic, and traditional cable operation. New units, repairing & servicing older units, and supplying parts are all part of what we do. We will even re-engineer your off-brand bucket for greater performance.

Anvil is the only US manufacturer of clamshell buckets that has passed a 2-year testing program of the US government for quality and strength. Don't sell yourself short. See why Anvil Buckets are built to last.

Over its history, Anvil and its brands have the unique distinction of building the following clamshell buckets and grapples which are considered to be the largest of their type to have ever been built. These accomplishments symbolize Anvil's design and manufacturing capabilities and represent the company's "can-do" attitude when an industry has had unique requirements:

  • Largest clamshell bucket: 77 cubic yards

  • Largest electro-hydraulic scrap grapple: 20 cubic yards

  • Largest hydraulic scrap grapple: 7 cubic yards

  • Largest electro-hydraulic refuse grapple: 14 cubic yards

  • Largest 2-rope round nose dredging bucket: 40 cubic yards

  • Anvil has the fastest lead times in the industry. Anvil designs its buckets and grapples around a concept of standard parts. Components are designed around product families. This system allows Anvil to keep many parts and components in stock.

  • Our products are tested using state of the art Finite Element Analysis (FEA) computer program. This software test stresses and finds weak areas in design before any piece of steel is cut. It also identifies and helps eliminate unnecessary weight. Anvil combines this technology with over 100 years of design and knowledge for the best designed, most reliable grabs in the market.

  • Anvil is consistently at the forefront of bucket and grapple design and innovation. This is demonstrated through the patents which have been awarded to us. An example of this innovation is our patented cluster sheaves, which increases cable life for customers up to 3 times on cable grabs. Anvil currently has two new innovative patents pending.

    Cluster Sheave - Patent No. 7,607,643

    This patent is on the improvement of the Fairlead design used in most cable buckets and grapples today. This design has increased cable life for Anvil customers up to 3 times over standard configurations, saving customers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

    Sealed Lip - Patent Pending

    Anvil currently has a Patent Pending on an improved bolt on sealed lip design.

  • Anvil practices LEAN manufacturing throughout its organization. LEAN improves efficiencies and reduces waste in the manufacturing process. LEAN reduces cost and improves quality in every product.

  • • 2015 IBJ “BEST GRAB”

    • 2013 IBJ “PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT”

    • 2012 IBJ “BEST GRAB”

    • MEPOL "MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR"

  • Anvil Innovations is located about 20 minutes north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This facility is where every bucket and grapple is designed; where every piece of steel is cut, formed, fit, welded, assembled, and/or tested. Every product from Anvil Innovations is “MADE IN THE USA”.