Blackmer donates a sliding vane hand pump to fire museum of Maryland

Continuing its long history of contributing pumping equipment to worthy causes, Blackmer recently donated a specially designed sliding vane hand pump, along with hose, nozzle and all necessary adapters, to the Fire Museum of Maryland in Lutherville, Md. The pump is being used in the Fire Museum's "Charge The Line!" program, which has been designed to offer fire-safety and fire-prevention learning opportunities for groups of elementary-school children. Every year, the Fire Museum hosts school trips for approximately 5,000 children from inner city Baltimore and surrounding counties.

Since Blackmer Sliding Vane Hand Pumps are generally intended for use with industrial, agricultural and construction fluids such as fuels, oils and solvents, the pump that was sent to the Fire Museum was custom manufactured to handle water. Special machining and plating were contributed by Blackmer suppliers Jackson's Industrial Manufacturing and Hard Chrome, both of Grand Rapids, MI.

The concept of "Charge The Line!"—which is a command firefighters yell when they are ready for water—is to have students tour the Fire Museum to learn about the history of firefighting technology, discuss the working parts in a fire engine and then break into groups to build their own fire engines. Working with adult facilitators, students use logic and teamwork to assemble a miniature working fire engine from parts that include a rotary hand pump, toy wagon, 15-gallon tank, garden hose and nozzle. Once completed, the tank is filled with water and the hand pump is turned to produce a water stream from the nozzle.

"We are so pleased and excited about this project and ecstatic that Blackmer put in the extra effort and trouble to modify their pump so that it can pump water," said Rick Bray, Education Director for the Fire Museum of Maryland. "Everyone at the Fire Museum of Maryland is extremely happy with the results of Blackmer's efforts."

Blackmer Sliding Vane Hand Pumps provide a safe, convenient method of dispensing or transferring liquids from drums, barrels, tanks or vats. They are designed for easy, efficient operation in handling a wide variety of liquids in a broad range of applications. For more information on Blackmer Sliding Vane Hand Pumps, please go to www.blackmer.com.

If you would like more information on the Fire Museum of Maryland, please visit www.firemuseummd.org or call 410/321-7500.