Do you know the history of centrifugal pumps? In this Centrifugal Pump Minute, we provide a brief overview of centrifugal pumps and discuss the various design updates that have taken place over the years.

We will talk a little bit about the history of these pumps. They date back to the 1600s. Back in 1687, it was documented that the first true centrifugal pump that was developed by Denise Pepin. After that, there are various modifications and design changes that have gone on through the years. In 1849 we had the first all-metal centrifugal pump was manufactured. In 1851 the design of the pump started to change to make them more efficient and effective at how they displace fluid. You start to see curved vein impellers developed in the mid-1800s. Here is a diagram that was created back in 1863, where it shows some of the early centrifugal pump designs. You can see here there are casing designs. There are impeller designs and they look very similar to what we deal with today. Based on our current understanding and design capabilities, we’ve certainly modified vein profiles and casing designs to optimize performance. But, it’s very interesting to see that these concepts existed back in the 1800s. Here’s another image of an early pump this would have been a steam-powered engine pump, again showing many of the same characteristics as what you would see today.

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