GEA Wiegand and GEA Jet Pumps celebrate their common centenary. In 1908, Wilhelm Wiegand got a patent for a multi-effect circulation evaporator. At that time the inventor worked as the factory manager of his father’s leather factory. The Wiegand evaporator had many advantages over the single-effect evaporators which were used in the glue industries and therefore, it could gain new fields of applications within a very short time. The use of steam jet vacuum pumps for vapour recompression further increased the economy of the evaporators. On this basis, in 1930 the range of products was expanded to steam jet pumps and steam jet cooling systems. In 1948, the company moved to Karlsruhe, and in 1970 to Ettlingen, today’s head office. In 1984, the company joined the GEA Group, and in 1999 the vacuum systems business sector was converted into an independent company, GEA Jet Pumps GmbH. Today, both companies generate sales of more than 100 mio. Euros.
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