In the beginning…

The High Street Furnace Company was little more than a blacksmith shop when it began producing iron plows in Providence around 1820. Sold to the newly incorporated Builder’s Iron Foundry (BIF) in 1853, the new owners added products that held more promise of growth and reflected their own areas of expertise.

BIF’s stated purpose at incorporation was the “manufacture of iron facades for houses and other castings for builders and other uses.” Examples of ornamental iron work produced by BIF during the mid-1800’s can still be seen on the Library of Congress Building in Washington. Other products produced by BIF during that period included cylinders for bridge piers and prefabricated lighthouses, which were installed around the world.

1883 Mortars
12-Inch Breech Loading Rifled Mortar Built by BIF in 1893
1887 Book

BIF literally wrote the book…

In 1887, Clemens Herschel introduced the Herschel Standard Venturi, by far the most accurate flow meter available over the ensuing 100 years. In 1893, the Chief Engineer at BIF, F.N. Connet, perfected the necessary metering instruments to enable use of the BIF Venturi tube as a flow measurement tool.

1890s Venturi
60-Inch BIF Venturi Tube (Late 1890s)

Venturi tubes and meters have been two of BIF’s most important products ever since. A continuing dedication to upgrading these products led to BIF’s research and development of the Universal Venturi Tube™ in 1970. At the time of its introduction, the UVT™ was the result of thousands of hours of design engineering and rigorous hydraulic testing. The UVT greatly increased the reliability and accuracy of flow measurement. At the same time, the UVT reduced costs of both lead-in piping and surrounding structures by eliminating the previous requirement for long runs of straight pipe into a Venturi.

R&D Lab
R&D Lab at BIF factory in Providence, RI

Almost 200 years have passed since the High Street Furnace Company produced its first iron plow. Its successor, BIF, has successfully designed, manufactured, and marketed a steadily evolving product line for over 13 decades.

Over 200 Years later and still developing better ways to measure flow…

Today BIF, specializes in the design and supply of venturi meters, rate-of-flow controllers, and metering accessories. Combining our expertise, and thousands of installations, BIF can meet your application requirements.

flow simulation
CFD Flow Simulation of Small Beta UVT Flow Meter

Learn more about what makes the BIF UVT superior to anything else

It’s been over 40 years, since the development of the UVT, but it’s design is still the standard all other venturi meters should be compared to. While others have attempted to copy the UVT’s hydraulic shape, only BIF has the knowledge, experience and years of development and testing to stand behind it.

Click HERE to learn more about the UVT.


Fabricated UVT for High Pressure Application During Calibration at Alden Research Laboratory
calibration