History of Cornell
The story of Cornell starts in 1946 when 5 people working at Pacific Pump Company decided to head out on their own.
Having a complete service department, they became familiar with what most of the common pump failures were. Many motor failures came from pressure spikes during operation, overloading capacity and water related failures of the pump end motor bearings. With many parts in stock and facilities to fabricate the rest, Cornell would service any model of pump.
Can we do better?
The Cornell team asked themselves, “Can we do better?”
In 1949 (at 265 North Hancock, P.O. Box 7762) the “Rain-O-Flow”
irrigation pumps were designed and manufactured to be irrigation specific models with
features that we felt would solve many problems that we were seeing in the repair shop.
Pump School and Product Line Development
During this time Clint Warren travelled around the country
giving lectures on applied hydraulics. These evolved into what we
now know as Pump School.
Soon farmers and industrial clients had other pump needs that
they asked Cornell to address. The non-clog line of pumps was
developed to deal with solids in the pumpage. We started building
completely portable sewage lift stations in various sizes and shapes that incorporated
vacuum primers, dehumidifiers, and control panels. (Compak Station)
Also during this time we had a large stock of Johnston turbines on hand for
rental.
Used primarily in bridge and dam construction, these massive units provided the capital for Cornell to expand its product line. The interaction with construction companies lead to new developments. During dam construction, the thick concrete traps heated up inside causing the concrete to cure unevenly and thereby loose strength. The solution was to modify a Cornell water pump to pump liquid ammonia through the concrete to cool it.
Then we adapted our new coolant pump to a system for a refrigerated warehouse for Safeway and it worked (2CB). Now Cornell ammonia pumps are used all over the world in warehouses, on ships to keep fish fresh, in large buildings as part of the air conditioning system.Hot Stuff - Cold Stuff
We can pump
cold stuff.
What about hot stuff? Cornell water
pumps were once again modified to pump
hot compressor and cooking oils. Now
virtually all Frito-Lay fried products in the
U.S.A. (i.e. potato chips, corn chips) are cooked with Cornell equipped fryers
and the potatoes that make those chips are pumped through Cornell pumps.
Every french fry sold by McDonald’s in the U.S. came through a
Cornell pump.
Around the World
Where else have we been in the the last 50 years? To the
Superbowl – Superbowl 23 in 1989 at Joe Robbie stadium,
home of the Miami Dolphins. The natural turf
in the stadium is
irrigated using Cornell pumps. And after the
Superbowl where does everybody go? To Disneyland! Cornell
pumps run many of the water displays and attractions at
Disneyland.
We were at Mt. St. Helen’s in 1983! Cornell pumps were
selected when the Army Corps of Engineers needed to drain water out of 2,500 acre Spirit
Lake. Volcanic debris had plugged the lake’s natural drainage and if the “earth dam” had
been over run it would have caused flooding and damage to the recovering towns below.
20 Cornell pumps with a capacity of over 100,000 gallons per minute
were on site and running 37 days after the contract was awarded.
All over the world, Cornell pumps can be found irrigating golf courses,
and Cornell pumps
are irrigating crops in
Africa, South
America, Europe,
Canada and Asia.