The year was 1937. In Seattle, Washington, a college student named Al Moen was working in a garage to earn his tuition money. While cleaning up after work one night, he turned on the old-fashioned two-handle faucet to wash his hands, and a sudden burst of hot water made him jump back in alarm. That set an idea in motion in Al Moen's mind that literally changed the world of plumbing and the way much of the world today gets its water -- it gave him the idea for the single-handle faucet.

He once said, "it got me thinking that you ought to be able to get what you wanted out of a faucet. The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that a single-handle mixing faucet was the answer, so I began to make some drawings."

It took Al countless tries to sell his concept to plumbing products manufacturers. Al worked on many revisions. World War II put a hold on the project, as materials were needed for the war effort. But by 1947, Al had an interested manufacturer -- Ravenna Metal Products of Seattle -- and they sold their first 250 faucets to a San Francisco plumbing supplier. The Moen® single-handle faucet was on its way to becoming a household name, not only in North America, but in approximately 55 countries around the world today.

By 1959, the Moen single-handle faucet was in hundreds of thousands of homes in the U.S., buoyed by the post-war building boom. And in that year, a survey of the world's leading designers, published in FORTUNE magazine, named the Moen single-handle faucet as one of the top 100 best designed mass-produced products of modern times. Another FORTUNE article published in 1991 listed Moen faucets as a part of "100 of America's Best." Al Moen headed Moen Incorporated's research and development group until his retirement in 1982. He held over 75 patents, including the replaceable cartridge (eliminating washers in faucets), the screen aerator, push-button shower valve diverter, swivel spray, pressure balancing shower valve and flow control aerator. Many of his patents were in fields totally unrelated to plumbing.

A nominee for the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Al Moen has been honored by the plumbing industry, being named to the Kitchen & Bath Hall of Fame in 1993. His genius is perhaps best summed up by the simple title that appeared on his business card -- Al Moen, Inventor.