Steam generating boiler has its history back in late 1700s and early 1800s from the concept of kettle-type boiler, which boils water and turns it into steam. It was not until about 1867 when convection boiler was developed, that the steam-generating industry started.

Most may agree that George Babcock and Steven Wilcox were the two inventors of steam – generating boilers. They were the first to register their boiler design with patent office and they established Babcock & Wilcox Company in New York City in 1891. Their first boilers were rather small, used coal, fired by hand and operated at a very low rate of input. The design used tubes within a firebrick-wall structure to generate steam.

The Stirling Boiler Company, owned by O.C Barber and named for the street Stirling Avenue with facility in Barberton, Ohio, also began making boilers in 1891. Their 8th Stirling boiler design was named H-type and had a brick setting design which was bigger than Babcock & Wilcox’s.

In 1907, the Stirling Boiler Company merged with the Babcock & Wilcox Company, renaming their most popular boiler H-type Stirling.

Another company producing steam boiler worth noting in history was the Grieve Grate Company and the American Stoker Company. They both had similar all brick wall design and used a screw-type grate at the bottom of the boiler to transport the coal across inside the boiler. These two companies later merged and formed the Combustion Engineering Company in 1912, offering the Type E Stoker Boiler in the market.