... continued from above.
Homestead Valve designed, cask, machined, and tested a variety of ball and plug valves for the steel industry. In 1927 Jenny revolutionized cleaning worldwide with the invention of the steam cleaner and in the late 1950’s Jenny invented the first self service car wash system. In 1992, Peter Leiss purchased the Jenny division of Homestead Industries and relocated the plant to Somerset, Pennsylvania. In 1998, Davey Compressor Company was purchased and joined the Jenny Product offering. This company designed and built the world’s first portable air-cooled air compressor in the late 1920’s and has remained on the cutting edge of compressor technology ever since.
Air compressors have been around for well over 100 years. One reason for their popularity is because as a resource air is safe, flexible, clean, and convenient; therefore compressors can come in a wide variety of different types and sizes. While there are many types of compressors, they all perform the same function, which is to increase the pressure and reduce the volume of a given gas such as air. When combined with air tools the tools become more powerful and typically lighter than standard electric tools or battery powered cordless tools.
A very popular air compressor design is the reciprocating compressors which can be widely found in two primary configurations; single stage and two stage. A single air compressor works by drawing air in and subsequently compressing the air to its final pressure in single piston stroke. A two stage air compressor works in a very similar manner with the primary difference being that they compress the air in 2 stages. In the first stage air is drawn in and compressed to an intermediate pressure. After being compressed in the first stage the air is piped through an intercooler where the air is allowed to cool and be compressed in the final stage. A single stage can attain pressures of up to 150 PSI and typically has a higher CFM; whereas the two stage is good for pressures up to 200 PSI.