Established in 1948 as G & F Manufacturing, the company started by making precision tooling for the jewelry industry. In the late 1950s, a Philadelphia based engineer contacted the management of G & F with an urgent need. His son was born with Hydrocephalus or "water on the brain." The doctors informed him that there was no treatment for this condition and that his son would die within a year from an excess of cranial fluid buildup. The engineer wanted the G & F staff to help him design and produce an implantable "shunt" that would remove the excess fluid yet maintain the cranial pressure.