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Wayne,

Edward's is a major manufacturer of vacuum pumps. They make/ made
several different kinds. If you do an online search you can probably
come up with not only all the spec.'s but also exploded views of all the
little parts the thing is made up with - as well as the parts you will
need to rebuild the thing if it has been sitting around for a while.

The motor size you quote indicates a huge vacuum pump. Currently they
offer a E2M40 which has a capacity of 30 cfm - that's about 10 times
greater than any pump I've ever used in an exhibit. This one only uses a
2 HP motor so I'm it's unlikely that this is the same one you've got.

The chief advantage to a large pump in our case is speed. It can
evacuate a chamber relatively quickly. This way visitors don't have to
wait a long time (30 sec to a minute) for a reasonable vacuum to be
reached.

Usually vacuum pumps run continuously (though I don't know about the
type you've got) - you turn a valve to connect the pump to the systems
rather than turn the pump on and off. It's unlikely that you'd want to
run a 25 hp motor all day (assuming you even have the service available
to run it.)

As far a what to do with it. You're guess is as good as mine, but
probably not as good as some others out there.

Joe R
TheExhibitGuys.com



Wayne Watson wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
>
>
> Someone gave the museum what we call a large vacuum pump. It has a 25 hp
> motor, is about 18" on a side, and says in large bold letters 40 with
> the words Two Stages below it. The mfger seems to be Edwards. It looks
> like it would evacuate all the air from a large room. I may have been
> used in the semiconductor industry. Any suggestions on how we might use
> it for an exhibit?
>
> --
>      Wayne T. Watson (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N, 2,701 feet,
> Nevada City, CA)
>                     -- GMT-8 hr std. time, RJ Rcvr 39° 8' 0" N,  121°
> 1' 0" W
>
>       "Birds take off at sunrise. On the opposite side of the world,
> they are
>       landing at sunset. This causes the earth to spin on its axis."
> -- Unknown
>
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>
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