Jen Nielsen

Biography

 Viking Pump was founded on a unique pump principle invented by Jens Nielsen, who had emigrated from Denmark to Cedar Falls, Iowa in 1870. He established a limestone quarry in 1886 at 18th and Main streets. When water seepage became a problem, he developed the first Rotary Internal Gear pump to drain the quarry. His first pump was built in 1904, and a patent application was submitted the same year. In 1911, Nielsen joined with Cedar Falls locals P.C. Petersen (a machinist), W.L. Hearst (a doctor) and George Wyth (a shoe salesman) to form the Viking Pump Company. It was so named because three of the four were of Danish descent, and they likened the first internal gear pump to the notion that the Vikings were the first European explorers of North America.

Research Interest

 iNNOVATION IN AGRICULTURE