Editors Note: In the January 2012 issue of Pumps & Systems, we were proud to bring you an in-depth look at some of the highlights of ground-breaking achievements in pump technology through the years. We suspected that our readers would come through with some information that we did not have. We are happy to give you some of the additional information provided by our readers on the greatest moments in pump history. For the complete version of this feature, click here.
In the “Letter from the Editor” in the January 2012 issue, we referred to leather pump seals. A friend of the industry, Inpro/Seal principal Dave Orlowski, let us know that the seals were most likely bearing housing seals and not liquid end seals and produced by the Chicago Rawhide Company. (Now CR Industries, a division of SKF).
The following are a few interesting additions to our “History of Pumps” timeline:
1874 Charles Barnes of New Brunswick invents the vane pump.
1899 Robert Blackmer invents rotary vane pump technology, a pump design that was an important departure from the old gear principle and predecessor to today’s sliding vane pumps.
1900 Siemens files the first German patent for liquid ring vacuum pumps and compressors.
1908 Hayward Tyler creates its first electric motor for use under water and develops the wet stator motor for use as a boiler circulation glandless motor-pump.
1910 Lewis H. Nash files the first U.S. patent for liquid ring vacuum pumps and compressors.
1923 Ruthman Companies designs the world’s first sealless vertical pump.
1937-1939 Smith Precision Products Company (Smith Pumps) designs three pumps, two of which (models 300 and 200) were specifically designed for LP-gas transfer.
1939 Smith Pumps develops the first liquefied gas transfer pump for LP-gas.
1940 Reuben Smith, of Smith Precision Products Company (Smith Pumps), receives the first approval for an LP-gas pump from the California Industrial Accident Commission. This was for the model 4X pump and the approval was a “suitable for use” certificate.
1948 Smith Precision Products Company receives the patent for the first mechanical seal supplied for liquefied gas transfer pumps (production in 1947).
1950Vanton develops the Flex-I-Liner® sealless self-priming rotary pump which handles corrosive, abrasive and viscous fluids as well as those that must be transferred free of product contamination.
1954 Smith Precision Products Company (Smith Pumps) begins work with the Underwriters Laboratories to develop their first standard for liquefied gas pumps, UL-51, which is still in use today.
1954 World’s first atomic-powered submarine is equipped with Ingersoll-Rand boiler-feed pumps and compressors.
1960 Development of GIW trademark GASITE hard iron for longer wearing pumps and parts.
1960 GIW vice president and inventor, Danforth Hagler, invents the Hydraulic Slide Rule.
1965 Warren Rupp’s heavy-duty, diverse AODD pump is introduced to the industrial market to address the vigorous demands of the steel mills.
1971 Gusher develops a purge hole system to enable pumps to handle 30-40 percent entrained air.
1979 Gusher develops multistage pumps for higher pressures required by the machine tool industry and designs the first top pull-out pump.
1980sGIW develops wear modeling technology for predicting pump performance.
1985 Sims manufactures the first structural composite pump, the Simsite Vertical Pit Pump, for which it won the Innovative Product Award in 1990.
1990s GIW develops a hard metal slurry pump for hydraulic transport of oil sands tailings.
1994 Sims receives the U.S. Navy’s honor of approval for composite centrifugal pump intervals.
1995 Sims manufactures the largest structural composite pumps in the world—two Simsite vertical turbine pumps for Potomac Electric Power Company.
2000s GIW introduces computer designed LCC rubberlined pump to the market.
2000s GIW develops an innovative slurry diverter to improve wear.
2002 Siemens (Elmo Division, liquid ring pumps) merges with Nash.
2002 Sims introduces the first structural composite vertical in-line pumps.
2006 Sims manufactures the largest structural composite centrifugal impeller, installed in a cooling tower pump for Puerto Rican Electrical Power Company.
Pumps & Systems, February 2012