- Blastcrete Equipment Company

Company History

Blastcrete Equipment Co. was established in 1950 by Jim Douglas as a manufacturer of single and double chamber gunite machines and the factory was located on East Slauson Ave. in Los Angeles. The Blastcrete Guns were sold as refractory guns and cement guns for pools and slope stabilization. Douglas established a cooperation with Donoho Clay Co. in Anniston, AL and helped Donoho promote its refractory gunning clay that Donoho called Blastpatch. Blastpatch continues on the market today as a product of Riverside Refractories in Pell City, AL. Donoho sold its product line to Riverside in 1995.

The Douglas family sold Blastcrete to Donoho Refractories, Inc. in 1983 and the business was moved from Los Angeles to Anniston. In 1984, Donoho Refractories established a manufacturing toll agreement with C. E. Refractories, which later became Premier Refractories, and that toll manufacturing agreement lasted until Premier Refractories was purchased by Vesuvius in 1999. During that time, Blastcrete worked with Premier and other leading refractory producers to design and manufacture mixing, pumping and spraying equipment for the refractory industry. In 1985, Blastcrete licensed the Genuine Piccola rotary gunning technology from Meyco of Switzerland which it still uses today. In 1987, Blastcrete developed The Genuine Piccola hydrostatic refractory gun, the first hydraulic gunite machine ever built in the U.S.

With encouragement and assistance from Oak Mountain Industries in 1996, Blastcrete developed the first ultra high pressure refractory pump that was combined with large refractory turbine mixer for the wet refractory process to serve the low cement/low moisture refractory technology. This machine was called the MX-10 and it continues as the industry standard. In 1998, Blastcrete introduced a hydraulic squeeze (peristaltic) pump that would pump ¾” aggregate concrete and up to 3/8” aggregate shotcrete. These low pressure pumps are used extensively for gypsum floors, shotcrete, plaster and stucco, cellular concrete and concrete flat work.

In 1999, Donoho Refractories was sold to Pryor Giggy Refractories and Blastcrete Equipment was incorporated and became a stand alone company. In 2006, Blastcrete purchased its present facility, a 70,000 sq. ft. building located on 13 acres located at 2000 Cobb Ave in Anniston. In 2007, a 1600 sq. ft. research, development and training facility was added to the manufacturing building. In 2008, Blastcrete will introduce its first hydraulic ball seat pump as well as a 4” ulta high pressure refractory pump and two-stage mixing system.