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About SEP

Seismic Energy Products, L.P. is the current ownership form of the nation’s premier innovator in elastomeric bearings for buildings and bridges. In 1957 Oil States Rubber (SEP) in collaboration with the Texas Department of Transportation and E.I. Dupont developed the first elastomeric bridge bearing ever installed in the U.S. (see Projects) This effort was quickly followed by the introduction of the steel laminate elastomeric bearing which is today the preferred and most widely used bearing for bridges world wide.

Growth in elastomeric bearings led Oil States to move bearing production to a dedicated facility in Athens, Texas in 1972. This 13 acre site remains the company’s manufacturing center.

In the early 1980’s Oil States teamed with researchers/designers in California to manufacture and test elastomeric bearings designed to lessen the effects of earthquakes on buildings and bridges. Known as "base isolation" the elastomeric bearing incorporated a lead core or compound additives to dissipate earthquake energy. In 1983 Oil States fabricated and tested the first isolators for a building in the US, the Foothill Communities Law and Justice Center in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Shortly after the first isolated building Oil Sates produced the first isolation bearings for a US bridge. These bearings were the first of some 4,000 isolators manufactured and tested for a California based Marketing and Design firm. The relationship with this firm endured until 1995 at which time SEP offered its seismic capabilities to the market on a direct basis.

In 1986 the Furon Company purchased the Athens, TX rubber bearing operation from Oil States, and moved its existing Fluorogold Slide Bearing unit to Texas. The consolidated group, dubbed the Structural Bearings Division, offered the nation’s most complete line of bearings for bridges, buildings and other infrastructure.

In 1996 Seismic Energy Products, L.P. purchased Furon’s Structural Bearings Division, retaining all employees and facilities. Today SEP continues to build on its rich history and remains the nation’s leading producer of bridge bearings, Teflon® slide bearings, and seismic isolators.