Although grooved fittings originated during World War I for rapid deployment of fuel and water lines to allied forces, grooved piping systems have become the fourth conventional piping method along with threaded, welded and flanged.
The rapid growth of grooved piping systems for low-pressure applications in the past 20 years has been stimulated by the cost savings of using thinner wall (lower-cost) pipe and the considerable lower installation costs. In addition to the most popular steel piping applications, the rapid growth of stainless piping has been met with development of stainless grooved pipe fittings to take advantage of the much lower cost of Schedule 5S and Schedule 10S stainless pipe. Similarly, there has been development of grooved copper pipe fittings but for a much smaller market.