Thompson Pump Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Silent Knight
Thompson Pump and Manufacturing Company, an ISO 9001-certified and one of the country’s leading manufacturers of heavy-duty bypass and dewatering pumps, is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its first-ever full-sound attenuated portable diesel-driven pump in the United States, Silent Knight.
This sound attenuated canopy reduces pump noise levels to or below 69 dBA. The Thompson Pump Silent Knight features:
· Sound enclosure to reduce noise pollution, allowing operation in noise-sensitive areas
· Lockable doors to provide resistance to vandalism
· Physical barrier to protect workers from machine parts
· Protective enclosure to shield equipment from environmental and physical impacts
· Built-in containment system to eliminate spills
In the late 1990s, an increase in urbanization and infrastructure development led to a rise in residential, public and commercial construction projects. With more of these projects taking place in densely populated areas, construction noise in neighborhoods became a big issue, facilitating the need for quieter equipment.
One such project was the expansion of the University of Central Florida campus with the development of Research Park and Greek Park. Contractors called on Thompson Pump to provide pumping equipment to dewater the construction sites but wanted the equipment to minimize noise because of its proximity to neighborhoods and businesses. Thompson Pump quickly began designing and building a prototype unit to be tested on the jobsite. The unit was a six-inch portable diesel driven pump with a metal enclosure containing sound absorbing material that covered the pump and engine for noise abatement, affectionately nicknamed “Silent Knight.” With the prototype, Thompson Pump engineers achieved an overall noise level 10-15 decibels lower than the non-sound attenuated version.
The Silent Knight became an instant success and after a few weeks, word spread, and more contractors started asking for this new sound attenuated pump. Over the next several months, Thompson Pump produced several more units which were placed in operation throughout the region in areas near hospitals, commercial districts and residential neighborhoods. The Silent Knight line has since been expanded to include various types of pumps, sizes and power sources. Today, almost 50 percent of Thompson Pump’s production includes sound attenuated pumps.
For more information, visit thompsonpump.com.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.