Acquisitions (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of business acquisitions (in businesses)			3
Net cash consideration	$ 399,270,000		$ 399,270,000
Portion of acquired goodwill expected to be deductible for tax purposes	6,399,000		6,399,000
Current assets, net of cash acquired	100,690,000		100,690,000
Property, plant and equipment	49,669,000		49,669,000
Goodwill	260,446,000		260,446,000
Intangible assets	248,798,000		248,798,000
Other non-current assets	5,902,000		5,902,000
Total liabilities	(165,625,000)		(165,625,000)
Net assets acquired	499,880,000		499,880,000
Common stock issued for acquisition			100,610,000
Aggregate revenue of current period acquisitions included in the Company's consolidated revenue	70,987,000		145,871,000
Acquisition related costs (after tax)			3,285,000
Amount of nonrecurring expense, excluded from current period net earnings in pro forma financials, related to the fair value adjustments to acquisition-date inventory	3,264,000		9,906,000
Settlement of purchase price adjustments for Sound Solutions	45,000,000
Revenue from continuing operations [Abstract]
As reported	2,208,699,000	2,138,606,000	6,428,571,000	5,945,654,000
Pro forma	2,208,699,000	2,226,934,000	6,494,791,000	6,346,127,000
Net earnings from continuing operations [Abstract]
As reported	242,213,000	223,438,000	651,942,000	637,427,000
Pro forma	245,477,000	241,789,000	670,170,000	648,654,000
Basic earnings per share from continuing operations [Abstract]
As reported (in dollars per share)	$ 1.33	$ 1.20	$ 3.56	$ 3.42
Pro forma (in dollars per share)	$ 1.35	$ 1.30	$ 3.66	$ 3.48
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations [Abstract]
As reported (in dollars per share)	$ 1.32	$ 1.19	$ 3.51	$ 3.37
Pro forma (in dollars per share)	$ 1.33	$ 1.28	$ 3.61	$ 3.42
Customer Intangibles [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition cost allocated to intangible assets	195,192,000		195,192,000
Weighted average lives of finite-lived intangible assets acquired			11 years
Trademarks [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition cost allocated to intangible assets	15,940,000		15,940,000
Weighted average lives of finite-lived intangible assets acquired			11 years
Other Intangibles [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition cost allocated to intangible assets	37,666,000		37,666,000
Weighted average lives of finite-lived intangible assets acquired			7 years
Maag Pump Systems [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Increase in Restricted Cash			$ 5,074