Our History

THE PIONEERING DAYS

On the first of March 1906 three vi­sionary men founded the machine works Maskinfabriken IRON AS.

The investment was shared by the three engineers Otto Nordentoft, Otto Meyer, and Christian Georg Arnesen, but it was Christian Arnesen who was responsible for operations, and it was many of his patents that were placed in production.

In 1915 Christian Arnesen took over IRON as sole proprietor when his two partners withdrew from the company, -and since then, IRON has been owned by his descendants. In the nineteen­ seventies, when it became the turn of the third generation to take over the company, ownership was transferred to a fund that acquired the shares in IRON. The family has retained control of IRON ever since.

TODAY

Today, IRON Pump specialises in marine pumps and pumps for the energy sector, but it hasn't always been like that. For some years, the company designed and produced a broad range of technical products: small engines for bicycles, vacuum cleaning equipment, brick-cut­ ting tables, post box locks, plate shears, roof tile molds, and many different types of pumps.

The decisive breakthrough in the pump area came in 1910. At that time, Denmark's largest shipyard, B&W in Copenhagen, was on the lookout for a new type of cooling water pump for a 2,500 HP diesel engine - gigantic for those days - which was to be installed in two freight vessels. Christian Arnesen was given the commission and designed a rotary vane pump with the necessary qualities. The same pump was also used for the ships' ballast tanks. When the first ship, the Selandia, was launched in 1912, it was the world's first diesel­ powered freight vessel. This was IRON's first major order for marine pumps.

Ellehammer is probably Denmark’s most famous inventor.

He obtained more than 400 patents and invented a series of mechanical items; boats for the Tivoli Gardens, a motorcycle, The Elleham, and he is regarded as one of the fathers of powered flight in Europe when he ‘took off’ in 1906!

His firefighting equipment formed the basis of the still-existing fire fighting system.

As per 1st November 2017, we have added the Ellehammer brand to our business. Through this acquisition, we are combining the best from two fields – IRON Pump with our expertise within cooling and ballast pumps and Ellehammer’s ejectors and unique range of pumps for efficient fire fighting.

Kean to learn more about J.C.H. Ellehammer and IRON Pump?

Check out the IRON Pump-youtube channel:
IRON YouTube Channel