The Evolution of the Vacuum Pump

A vacuum pump is a mechanical apparatus that removes gas particles and molecules from an air-tight volume in order to leave behind a partial vacuum. The vacuum pump was invented in by Otto von Guericke in 1650.

The suction pump is the predecessor to the vacuum pump which was popular among to the Romans during the 13th century. Double-action suction pumps were developed in the city of Pompeii. Arabic engineer Al-Jazari also described suction pumps in the 13th century.

By the 17th century, improved water pump designs were introduced and paved the way for more measurable vacuums, but this was not immediately understood. This prompted the Duke commissioned Galileo to investigate the problem.

Breakthroughs and solutions

Galileo showed the puzzle to other scientists, including Gaspar Berti who replicated it by creating the first water barometer in Rome in 1639. Berti's barometer produced a vacuum above the water column, but he could not explain it.

A solution was made by Evangelista Torricelli in the mid 16th century by building the first mercury barometer and argued that the space at the top was a vacuum. Some people believe that although Torricelli's theory made sense, it was Blaise Pascal's experiments that proved the top space really contained vacuum.

In the 19th century, Nikola Tesla designed the device, imaged to the right, that contains a Sprengel Pump to create a high degree of exhaustion.

Operational procedures and limitations

Vacuum pumps are combined with operational procedures and chambers into a wide array of vacuum systems. A partial vacuum, or rough vacuum, can be made using a positive displacement pump that transfer a gas load from an inlet port to an exhaust port. Mechanical limitations can only achieve a low vacuuming power.

Other techniques must then be used to achieve a higher function, typically in series that usually follows an initial fast pump-down with a positive displacement pump.

Some examples might be use of an oil sealed rotary vane pump, which is the most common type of positive displacement pump supporting a diffusion pump.

There are other combination depending on the vacuum level being sought.

Attaining high-vacuum is hard because all of the materials that are exposed to the vacuum must be thoroughly tested for their pressure properties.