CM Furnaces 75th Anniversary: From Coils to High-Temperature Leaders
In 2021, CM Furnaces celebrates its 75th anniversary, joining brands like the Cleveland Browns, The Estée Lauder Companies and Goodyear. From the start, CM has kept its design and manufacturing in the U.S., and today it serves a wide range of high‑temperature furnace markets. For inquiries, you can email info@cmfurnaces.com or visit the company website.
How CM Furnaces Started in 1946
Founders Seth Combs and James Murphy launched CM Furnaces in January 1946. The business originally made coils and filaments for the electronics and lighting industries using molybdenum and tungsten wire.
Both founders came from the refractory metal industry, so they understood moly and tungsten extremely well. To shape, set and clean the coils, they needed to hydrogen‑fire them. As a result, CM began building its own hydrogen furnaces to support the coil business.
These in‑house furnace designs quickly stood out. GE, Sylvania and Westinghouse—the three major lighting companies at the time—noticed the performance and asked CM to build furnaces for their operations.
From Coils to a Growing Furnace Business
As more companies heard about CM’s furnace designs, work from other industries followed. Furnaces soon became a larger share of the business, while demand for traditional electronic filaments slowly declined. At the same time, the furnace business kept growing and expanding.
Because CM felt comfortable working with refractory metal wire, the team moved early into the wire industry. Initially, they focused on molybdenum and tungsten wire. Over time, they added copper, stainless steel, nickel‑based alloys and titanium. These applications then opened doors to furnaces for tubing, rod and small‑width sheet.
Wire Annealing and Laboratory Furnace Expansion
Today, continuous wire annealing furnaces form a very important part of CM’s business. These systems support high‑precision processing for many types of wire and alloy products.
The company also expanded into laboratory furnaces for high‑temperature research. These systems handle a wide range of atmospheres and applications, helping universities, labs and manufacturers carry out advanced materials testing and development.
Serving 12 Major Industries with Standard and Custom Furnaces
After 75 years, CM Furnaces now serves 12 major industries. The company designs and builds both standard models and custom units for a huge variety of processes and temperature requirements. This broad base gives CM a strong platform to continue growing into new markets and applications.
The team keeps refining furnace designs to boost performance, reliability and ease of use. Because CM builds furnaces every day, it constantly gathers feedback from the field and uses that knowledge to improve each new system.
Why the Future Looks Bright for CM Furnaces
Many companies no longer have the internal resources to design and build their own high‑temperature furnaces. They may lack the specialized manpower, and they risk creating a “new” system based on older technology.
CM Furnaces, however, continues to design, build and refine furnaces full‑time. Each new project adds to the company’s experience and helps it enhance temperature control, atmosphere management and long‑term durability. With that momentum, CM looks forward not only to its 75‑year milestone, but also to celebrating its 100th anniversary as a trusted furnace partner.
