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Byron Jackson: A California Inventor

  • Byron Jackson
  • UNITED STATES, June-15-1860
As a young girl growing up in farm country in Northern California, I can still recall trips into town with my grandmother. Riding in the front seat of her two-toned '49 Cadillac, she would make sure I could recognize a Byron Jackson pump working alongside the road. I was told that they were something special and that my great-great Uncle Byron invented them, and that he had come to Woodland, CA from Ohio in 1860 with two of his brothers. I pretended to understand their importance, but what was so important about those old green pumps? It wasn't until two years ago when I began my research on the Byron Jackson pump, that I came to fully appreciate their importance. My journey began on the Internet of course, then wading through boxes of archived materials, combing through reference books, and speaking with folks in the pump industry. I soon relished my grandmother's and mother's carefully saved newspaper clippings, letters and family photos of Byron, and began to realize the impact of one man in the Sacramento Valley, to California and more largely to the world. Byron Jackson's contribution of the deep-well turbine centrifugal pump began when he left farming with his father to create labor saving agricultural machinery. He knew first-hand from working long hours on the family farm what it would mean to produce food cheaper and faster. His agricultural innovations were now in demand by farmers throughout the Valley and were being recognized by State agricultural economists. But it was the centrifugal pump that Byron Jackson believed would be most valuable for the farming community. Having created a steam driven straw-burning tractor, he must have known he was among many in the race for best tractor. In the 1860s, he also knew that grain was now plentiful, prices were going down requiring less harvesters, and opening a demand for new crops and orchards dependent upon water. Thus began the development of the deep-well turbine pump that could rapidly move large amounts of water. No longer dependent upon rainfall and adjacent water sources, farmers were able to grow a variety crops, orchards and vineyards. Known for their quality products and in high demand, the Byron Jackson Pump Company moved to San Francisco -- the sales office on Market Street, and the foundry taking up an entire block at Sixth and Bluxome. However in 1906, the earthquake and fires destroyed countless businesses and residences, including the Byron Jackson Pump Company. Risking their lives, the employees ran into the sales office and the foundry to retrieve the cash, orders, and blueprints, loaded them onto a wagon and drove them to an adjacent empty lot of Byron's home, where they were buried to escape the fires. At the age of 65, Byron Jackson began all over again, developing his centrifugal pumps for agriculture, industry, and municipalities. Passing away in 1921, the name Byron Jackon meant pump and a quality pump. In 1955 Byron Jackson Pump Company was puchased by Borg Warner, and in 2000, Borg Warner / Byron Jackson was purchased by Flowserve Corporation, listing Byron Jackson Pumps in their Heritage line. Millions of Byron Jackson pumps are located throughout the world today. The largest in the world are two 65,000 hp Byron Jackson pumps in the Grand Coulee Dam. They are in the Alaskan and Saudi pipelines, the USS Nautiluss, the space shuttle, and in continuous operation since 1907 at a San Francisco Fire Suppression station. In 1860, Byron Jackson spent three months traveling across the plains in a wagon with two of his six brothers. The first Pony Express rider left St. Joseph, Missouri on April 3rd, 1860, arriving in San Francisco, California on April 14th, 1860. The telegraph would not be completed until 1861. There would be no running water, electricity, railroads or telephones for several more years. Today, we cannot imagine life without our cells phones, laptops, the Internet, the automobile, electricity, and just as importantly -- turning on the faucet for water. Although invisible, countless innovations of Byron Jackson's deepwell turbine centrifugal have evolved and have become essential to people across the globe. The names of Alexander Graham Bell, Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, and Steven Jobs are known by most. Byron Jackson and his contribution of the deepwell turbine centrifugal pump belongs alongside this country's leading innovators.