The earliest example similar to the ball valve is the valve patented by John Warren in 1871. It is a metal seated valve with a brass ball and a brass seat. Warren finally gave his design patent of brass ball valve to John Chapman, the head of Chapman Valve Company. Whatever the reason, Chapman never put Warren’s design into production. Instead, he and other valve manufacturers have been using older designs for many years.

Ball valves, also known as ball cock valves, finally played a role during World War II. During this period, engineers developed it for use in military aircraft fuel systems. After the success of ball valves in World War II, engineers applied ball valves to industrial applications.

One of the most important breakthroughs related to ball valves in the 1950s was the development of Teflon and its subsequent use as a ball valve material. After the successful development of Teflon, many enterprises such as DuPont vied for the right to use it, because they knew that Teflon could bring huge market benefits. Eventually, more than one company was able to manufacture Teflon valves. Teflon ball valves are flexible and can form positive seals in two directions. In other words, they are bidirectional. They are also leak proof. In 1958, Howard Freeman was the first manufacturer to design a ball valve with a flexible Teflon seat, and his design was patented.

Today, ball valves have been developed in many ways, including their material compatibility and possible applications. In addition, they can use CNC machining and computer programming (such as Button model) to make the best valves. Soon, ball valve manufacturers will be able to provide more choices for their products, including aluminum construction, less wear and extensive throttling capabilities, which allow operators to pass a variable amount of fluid through the valve at a limited flow rate.