We remain diligent in controlling our discretionary spend and used our 80/20 principles to allocate resources to our most promising opportunities.
With that, I'll turn to our outlook for our segments on Page 7.
fourth quarter orders of $795 million were up 17% overall and up 13% organically.
For the year, orders were up 26% overall and up 21% organically.
We experienced a strong rebound in demand for our products across all our segments and steadily built our backlog in each quarter of 2021 totaling $266 million for the year.
Relative to full year 2019, organic orders were up 15%.
Q4 sales of $715 million were up 16% overall and up 11% organically.
full year sales of $2.8 billion were up 18% overall and up 12% organically.
We saw favorable results across all our segments and again, strong performance relative to full year 2019 with organic sales up 4%.
fourth quarter gross margins expanded 20 basis points to 44%.
For the full year, gross margins expanded 60 basis points, and adjusted gross margins expanded 80 basis points to 44.7%, primarily driven by strong volume leverage.
Q4 operating margin was 22.7%, up 10 basis points compared to prior year.
Adjusted operating margin declined 60 basis points, driven by a rebound in discretionary spending, targeted resource investments, and the dilutive impact of acquisition-related intangible amortization, partially offset by volume leverage.
full year operating margin was 23%, up 90 basis points compared to the prior year.
Adjusted operating margin was 23.9%, up 110 basis points compared to prior year.
Our fourth quarter effective tax rate was 22.5%, relatively flat compared to the prior-year ETR of 22.2%.
Our full year effective tax rate was 22.5% compared to 19.7% in the prior year due to lower tax benefits associated with executive compensation and the nonrepeat of benefits associated with the finalization of the global intangible low-income tax regulations in 2020.
Q4 net income was $119 million, which resulted in earnings per share of $1.55.
Adjusted net income was also $119 million with adjusted earnings per share of $1.55, which was up $0.18 or 13% over prior-year adjusted EPS.
full year net income was $449 million, which resulted in earnings per share of $5.88.
Adjusted net income was $482 million, resulting in an adjusted earnings per share of $6.30, up $1.11 or 21% over prior-year adjusted EPS.
The tax rate movement I mentioned drives a $0.23 differential in earnings per share as compared to the prior year.
Said differently, our earnings per share would have expanded by $1.34 or 26%, had 2021 been taxed at the 2020 rate.
Finally, free cash flow for the quarter was $136 million, 115% of adjusted net income.
For the year, free cash flow was $493 million, down 5% versus last year, and was 102% of adjusted net income.
We spent over $70 million on capital projects this year, an increase of over $20 million versus 2020.
Adjusted operating income increased $125 million for the year compared to 2020.
Our 12% organic growth contributed approximately $106 million flowing through at our prior year gross margin rate.
We reinvested $35 million back into the businesses, taking the form of a partial rebound in discretionary spending to pre-pandemic levels, higher variable compensation expenses, and targeted reinvestment and resources to drive growth.
Despite this incremental spend and a challenging supply chain environment, we achieved a solid 38% organic flow-through for the year.
Flow-through is then negatively impacted by the dilutive impact of acquisitions and FX, getting us to a reported flow-through of 30%.
Our fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share under this definition would have been $1.71 per share, while our full year 2021 adjusted earnings per share would have been $6.87 per share.
Under this new definition, for the first quarter of 2022, we are projecting GAAP earnings per share of $1.57 to $1.60 and adjusted earnings per share to range from $1.73 to $1.76.
We expect organic revenue growth of 6% to 7% for the first quarter and operating margin of approximately 23%.
The first quarter effective tax rate is expected to be approximately 22.5%.
We expect FX to be unfavorable to our topline by 1% and acquisitions to provide a 4% benefit.
Corporate costs in the first quarter are expected to be around $19 million.
We project GAAP earnings per share of $6.70 to $7 and adjusted earnings per share to range from $7.33 to $7.63.
We expect full year organic revenue growth of 5% to 8% and operating margins to be around 24%.
We expect FX to be unfavorable to our topline by 1% and acquisitions to provide a 2% benefit.
The full year effective tax rate is expected to be around 22.5%.
Capital expenditures are anticipated to be around $90 million, an increase over 2021 as we continue to identify opportunities to reinvest in our core businesses.
Free cash flow is expected to be approximately 105% of adjusted net income, and corporate costs are expected to be approximately $80 million for the year.
Therefore, we are projecting organic revenue for the year to be up 5% to 8%, which translates to an earnings per share impact of $0.60 to $0.95 depending on the topline results.
This will drive $0.20 to $0.25 of favorability next year.
These investments will reduce earnings per share by $0.20 to $0.25 and are funded by the productivity gains I mentioned previously.
The unfavorability impacts earnings per share by $0.20 to $0.25.
I'll note that we are ramping spend to pre-pandemic levels, but with 20% higher revenues.
We expect the acquisitions to contribute $54 million of revenue and $0.08 of EPS.
The incremental amortization that we see in 2022 versus 2021 is largely related to these acquisitions and will provide an additional $0.05 of EPS.
Second, we expect a 1% headwind from FX, providing $0.07 of earnings per share pressure.
So in summary, we are projecting organic revenue growth of 5% to 8% for the year, adjusted earnings per share expectations in the range of $7.33 to $7.63, a 7% to 11% growth over 2021.
Implied in our guidance is mid- to high 20s year-over-year flow-through on the low end and 30% on the high end.
First and foremost, we are a portfolio of great businesses that leverage 80/20 with an obsessive focus to serve our customers.
We must continue to utilize our 80/20 toolkit to create efficient, innovative, value-creating businesses.

Summary:
Q4 sales of $715 million were up 16% overall and up 11% organically.
Q4 net income was $119 million, which resulted in earnings per share of $1.55.
Adjusted net income was also $119 million with adjusted earnings per share of $1.55, which was up $0.18 or 13% over prior-year adjusted EPS.
Under this new definition, for the first quarter of 2022, we are projecting GAAP earnings per share of $1.57 to $1.60 and adjusted earnings per share to range from $1.73 to $1.76.
We project GAAP earnings per share of $6.70 to $7 and adjusted earnings per share to range from $7.33 to $7.63.
So in summary, we are projecting organic revenue growth of 5% to 8% for the year, adjusted earnings per share expectations in the range of $7.33 to $7.63, a 7% to 11% growth over 2021.