“We continue to build upon our century of service via solid engineering and customized screening solutions that allow operators to efficiently meet the most stringent specifications,” said Deister Chairman and Co-CEO Irwin F. Deister Jr., who recently marked 60 years of service with the company. Irwin and E. Mark Deister, president and co-CEO, represent the family’s third generation at the company’s helm. The company’s dedication to the industry began with their grandfather, Emil Deister, the company’s founder.
In the early 1900s, Emil Deister took up the study of ore separation; and eventually, he would patent his own equipment, starting with a centrifugal separator that extracted gold from mercury amalgam, and continuing on to develop ore separating tables. His table is praised in Taggart’s Handbook of Ore Dressing, the official textbook at many mining schools, as the first serious competition to the only other kind of ore separating table available at the time.
Emil established his business in 1906 as the Deister Concentrator Co. In 1912, Emil sold his interests in Deister Concentrator Co. and established Deister Machine Co., Inc.
Deister Machine Co. began manufacturing operations at its current location. The original building, a 5,500 sq-ft plant, is still in active use amid a total operation that today spans more than 360,000 sq ft and four plant locations in Fort Wayne. Its line of equipment includes heavy-duty inclined screens, high-speed screens, horizontal screens, dewatering screens, and vibrating feeders and grizzlies. Additionally, Deister recently introduced its new Ultra-Fines Recovery System, as well as its new line of Deister Premium Portable Screening Plants.
Deister equipment is in operation in all 50 states, Canada, and in many countries throughout Latin America, as well as Europe, Asia and Australia. According to its engineers, Deister equipment is designed to integrate with all components of the production system, while delivering maximum performance and productivity. In fact, some of the earlier models of Deister vibrating screens are still in operation due to their rugged construction and continued high efficiency.
Additionally, Deister Machine supports its industry by being active participants in a variety of key organizations. Today, Irwin F. Deister Jr. and E. Mark Deister are life members of the NSSGA board, both having served as chairman of its Manufacturers and Services (M & S) Division. In the recent past, Deister Vice President of Marketing and Sales Joe Schlabach served as the chairman of M & S Division.
