Terminal Units: VAV Boxes
Carnes: visit www.carnes.com
H-Mac Systems offers a complete line of terminal units by Carnes.
Wilbur R. (Bill) Carnes began to manufacture and sell his first products
near the end of 1939. Bill and his family lived on the east side of
Madison, Wisconsin near Lake Monona. His first employee was hired in
January, 1940. Prior to starting the company he took a leave of absence
from his position as a chemical salesman and developed a method to take
metal shavings out of the oil coolants that he was selling. His first
products were sump tank cleaning machines that were manufactured for
use in machine shops, including the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois. These
machines helped to solve oil filtration problems. Bill would sell a unit and
then would build it in his shop, which was located at 2066 Helena Street
in Madison. These machines had 100, 150, or 200 gallon tanks that were
placed on wheels. They had centrifugal baskets with filters to remove
steel chips from the coolant used in milling machines, which allowed the
coolant to be used over and over. Later Bill also designed his own
vacuum pump for these machines.
Due to lack of space Bill moved his operation to a larger (10,000 square
feet) building in Verona in May of 1951. This is the current location of
Carnes Company. The original building was made of concrete block and
had living quarters in the front section.
As the business expanded he built another building with an office and an
attached spinning shop. This building was built at an angle to the original
building, and no one today knows why.
After the sump tank business was going strong Bill became interested in
spinning metal. This led to prototype work for the Trane Company. Trane
had Bill design a round diffuser that they placed at the bottom of round
space heaters that Trane was marketing at the time.
Bill then began to manufacture flue hoods for gas water heaters. He had
an automatic spinning lathe designed for this. This product was later
dropped when Bill found better uses for the equipment.
Bill also began to produce spinnings for other companies, such as Titus,
that are Carnes’ competitors today. The company expanded with product
line additions that included grilles, registers, and diffusers.
Later Carnes began to manufacture Centrifugal Spun Ventilators using
the spinning technology that Carnes had developed.
The largest metal spinning contract that Bill secured was for the Oak
Ridge Project in Tennessee. Carnes manufactured large donut spinnings
that required welding two large aluminum sheets together and then
spinning them across the welds without breaking the welds. These were
so large that that a special under slung trailer had to be used to ship
them.
By the 1950’s the Verona plant exceeded 216,000 square feet.
In 1955 Bill sold the sump tank portion of the business to Bob Troller, an
engineer who worked at Carnes. In 1957 Bill sold Carnes Company to
Dings Magnetic Separator Company for over a million dollars. He then
started another company named Senrac, which is Carnes spelled
backwards. Senrac manufactured louvers and dampers, and Bill sold
these product lines to Wehr a couple years later. Wilbur Carnes then
turned to city politics and was elected a Madison alderman in 1962. He
lived in Madison until 1973 when he moved to Arizona. Wilbur Carnes
died at age 70 in Sun City Arizona.
Many other products were introduced over the ensuing years, including
fans, VAV boxes, humidifiers, and heat recovery products.
In 1958 Carnes Company consolidated with Wehr Steel and was renamed
Wehr Corporation. In 1965 Carnes expanded by adding a second
110,000 square foot building in Sanford, North Carolina. In the early
1970’s Carnes expanded again with a leased facility just off of the
Madison capital square. In 1987 Wehr Corporation was renamed
Venturedyne, Ltd. And Carnes is currently a division of Venturedyne, Ltd.
Carnes variable air volume terminal units accurately regulate airflow for
maximum occupant comfort. Carnes Terminal Units are built to provide
very low pressure drop and sound levels which are certified by ARI. A
wide range of models, accessories, and options are available.
Non Fan Powered Units
•Single Duct
•Dual Duct
•Retrofit
•Bypass
Fan Powered Units
•Intermittent Volume (Parallel Flow)
•Constant Volume (Series Flow)
Reheat Coils
•Hot Water Coils
•Electric Coils
Terminal Unit Controls
•Electronic
•Electric
•Pneumatic
•Miscellaneous Controls
Contact us for more information on Carnes products.
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