PROF. A.INOKUTY CENTRIFUGAL PUMP

The thesis ‘The Theory of Volute Pumps’ released in 1905 by Aria Inokuchi, professor of the then Imperial University of Tokyo, presented a revolutionary theory that attracted attention worldwide at that time. Based on the pump theory, Kazukiyo Hatakeyama, a pupil of Inokuchi, advanced his own research for commercialization. Inokuchi’s centrifugal pump was then manufactured in 1912 by Kunitomo Kikai Seisakusho and it was used up to the mid-1960s to mid-1970s at the Ketanuma Water Pumping Station in Chiba Prefecture. The pump specifications are as follows: diameter, 15 inches (380mm); pump displacement, 4747 koku (856.3m3/hr.); and actual pump head, 12 shaku (3.64m). In 1912, Hatakeyama established the ‘Inokuchi Type Machinery Office’ (currently Ebara Corporation), where Ariya Inokuchi was designated to serve as senior manager. Centrifugal pumps to which Inokuchi’s theory is applied are still manufactured today.