Blackmer Pioneering History
 Before the turn of the 20th century, a rotary pump was generally understood to be a "gear pump," consisting primarily of two meshing gears which trapped liquid between the gear teeth and the pump housing creating small sealing cavities that transported fluid as it rotated, forcing the liquid out the other side. But in 1899 R. M. Blackmer came up with a vane-type pump design that was an important departure from the old gear principle. In contrast to the flow rate from a gear pump that drops steadily as the gear teeth wear away, the loss from a vane-type pump is practically negligible. As the vanes wear away at the tips, they simply move further out of the rotor slots to self-adjust and maintain the original rate.
 Blackmer couldn't have picked a better time to invent this ingenious type of pump. The advent of the automobile was giving the country a new thirst for gasoline and oil. The petroleum industry was growing by giant strides and the young firm was prepared to expand with it.
The original Blackmer vane pump has fathered a family of hundreds of different pump models.
Today, Blackmer markets these pumps along with other fluid and gas technologies worldwide into a multitude of applications within the Process, Energy, Transport and Military & Marine markets.
Blackmer: The First 100 Years:
1899 |
Robert Blackmer invents
new rotary vane pump technology that is
the predecessor to today's sliding vane
pumps.
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1903 |
Blackmer incorporates the Blackmer Pump, Power and Manufacturing Company in Petoskey, MI
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1914 |
Blackmer becomes supplier to U.S. military.
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1925 |
Blackmer relocates to Grand Rapids, MI, where its headquarters remain to this day
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1950 |
Blackmer introduces integral mechanical seal
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1954 |
Blackmer designs first liquefied gas pumps and produces first sliding-vane LPG pump
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1964 |
Company is purchased by the Dover Corporation.
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1968 |
Non-galling stainless steel pump introduced.
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1980 |
First Blackmer reciprocating compressor introduced to the product line.
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1987 |
ML4 pump introduced and outperforms gear pumps in viscous, high pressure applications.
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1990 |
HD industrial compressors introduced.
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1991 |
Company name changed from 'Blackmer Pump' to 'Blackmer' to reflect growing product line and single focused branding. Seal-less pumps introduced.
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1993 |
Grand Rapids plant earns ISO-9001 certification.
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1996 |
Purchased Hammond Engineering, a rotary vane compressor, hydraulic cooler, and screw compressor manufacturer in England.
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2000 |
Acquires System One Pumps, an industry defining centrifugal pump that forced other competitive products to upgrade their pump designs.
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2005 |
Introduces innovative ProVane© Motor Speed Vane Pump, the most advanced sliding vane pump in the world.
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2008 |
Blackmer joins Dover Corporation's newly formed Pump Solutions Group(PSG™). Mouvex-Blackmer™ becomes an independent operating company within PSG. Other member companies include Wilden®, Neptune®, Almatec® and Griswold®. |
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