Our History

More Than 100 Years of Service

Cook Compression was founded in 1888 as the C. Lee Cook company. The founder was Charles Lee Cook, an inventor with multiple patents to his name. The company, based out of Louisville, Kentucky, produced one of his inventions: the first metallic packing used on piston rods for locomotives and steamships.

In 1955, C. Lee Cook became one of the founding companies of Dover Corporation. Fred Durham, a metallurgist who joined C. Lee Cook in 1923 to develop a more durable metal composite and who bought the company in 1928, became the first CEO of Dover.

In 2007, four operating companies owned by Dover came together under the name Cook Compression. Those four companies were C. Lee Cook; Cook Valve (formerly Cook Manley and Compressor Valve Engineering/CVE); Compressor Components Incorporated (CCI), and American Industrial Components. In 2009, Cook Compression acquired Mechanical Field Services, LP, adding field repair, maintenance and overhaul services for reciprocating and rotating equipment to its capabilities.