History

Nicholas Sulentic, our company’s founder, came to America at age 15 from Yugoslovia. After landing in New York, and being taken in by a family in Illinois, he eventually ended up in Waterloo, Iowa.

In Waterloo, Nicholas and his brother Pete started a grocery store in a small wooden building that had been a garage. As business grew and prospered the Sulentic brothers built a brick building and started Waterloo’s first supermarket with its own bakery.

It was in 1922 in a 12x20 foot shed behind their supermarket building that Waterloo Industries originated.

In those days you had to grind the valve of a car about every 5,000 miles because of carbon buildup. Nicholas invented an automotive service tool that enabled the engine mechanic to compress valve springs for replacement in the engine block after the valve grinding job.

Back then the company identified its product so it was natural for this startup company to be called Waterloo Valve Spring Compressor Company.

As car models evolved, other automotive tools were added to the product line, including valve lifters and the brake pedal jack. By the early 30’s Waterloo Valve Spring Compressor Company manufactured 25 tools in the valve removal and replacement service category.

Nicholas and his wife Anna raised six boys, all of whom would eventually play a role in building the family business. But it was the involvement of the oldest brother, Ray, that would forever change the course of the company.