1932 – 1935
In 1932 at the insistence of Walter Fincher, Bill Norvell made up the first de-mountable tray sieve in his basement shop in Kansas City, Missouri. He rented a room in Kansas City, Missouri in 1935 and moved in as Nor-Vell Sieve Shop, to make sieves and as the Fincher Bleaching Machine, to make agitators.
1940
Another room was rented and women were employed for the assembly of sieve frames. The original rooms were used to build sifters and agitators.
1947
Ground was broken in January in Fort Scott, Kansas for the new factory.
1971 – 1975
Norvell Begins Shipping Equipment Worldwide! Sifter were being shipped to Pakistan, England, France, Venezuela, Chile, and Japan for the first time.
1978 – 1987
Shipped first of many sifters to Nigeria and sifters were also being shipped to Haiti, Jamaica, Philippines, Virgin Islands, Mexico, Trinidad, Honduras. In 1981 & 1982, agitators were being shipped to Argentina, Thailand, and Israel.
1995
Alan Hale purchases control of the Norvell Company from Hough International.
1996
Mark Shank joined the team as General Manager.
1997
Introduction of CNC equipment to production.
1999
Introduction of the floor-mounted, free swinging, single section plan sifter as the “Smart Sifter”.
2005
Introduced the Model 111 & 223 stainless steel gravity-fed sifters.
2010
Implemented the use of Robotics into production.
2015
Introduced adjustable steel plate counterweight on Free-Swinging Sifters.
