ERNEST FEUERHEERD, BORN 1876
Inventor of fire engine pumps
Feuerheerd realised that the two rotors of a gearpump did not actually need to mesh externally for the pump to work. A smaller rotor with the relevant teeth or lobes could revolve inside a larger rotor. This would save space. He patented his new design. Co-operation with the dockside crane makers Stothert & Pitt caused him to move to their base in Bath. There he set up his own company, Feuerheerd’s Rotors (British Empire) Ltd, to manufacture his revolutionary pump. After a promising start things did not go well, with Feuerheerd going bankrupt and resorting to a spell of musical busking. He was swindled out of his patents by George Heigh, who was later hanged for serial murder.