Francis Marion Roots

The Roots Blower Company was an American engineering company based in Connersville, Indiana. It was founded in 1859 by the inventors Philander Higley Roots and Francis Marion Roots. It is notable for the Roots blower, a type of pump. Today, Roots blowers are mainly used as air pumps in superchargers for internal combustion engines; they were first used in blast furnaces to blow combustion air to melt iron.

The Roots brothers chose Connersville, Indiana as the Whitewater Canal provided a convenient 11 foot (3.35 metre) drop suitable for an undershot mill wheel. When this proved insufficiently powerful, Philander Roots built a more efficient "water motor" to exploit the power source. However, the lobe impellers were made of wood, which warped and caused the motor to jam when used under water. As the brothers studied the problem on dry land, one of them rotated a shaft, causing the impellers to spin in the air, "blowing off his brother's hat". This attracted the attention of the superintendent of an iron foundry, who observed to Roots that it could be used to help melt iron. Roots followed up the idea by designing the Roots blower, "now (1931) the leading product of the plant". The foundry superintendent was given the role of foundry foreman at Roots Blower.

The Roots brothers patented the Roots Blower in 1860. In 1869 they were granted a patent by the International Patent Office, London for the invention of "improvements in rotary blowing machines."

In 1875, Roots exhibited a blower at the St Petersburg Exhibition; Thwaites and Carbutt exhibited a Roots principle "air blowing machine" for mine ventilation in the same exhibition.

In 1885 Edgar Dwight Johnston joined the firm of 30 people; he became vice president in 1889 and president in 1898, remaining so until at least 1931. At that time the firm employed about 225 people.

In 1900, Gottlieb Daimler patented a Roots supercharger for a car's internal combustion engine.

In 1931, Roots Blower Company and Connersville Blower Company were bought by the International Derrick and Equipment Company to found Roots-Connersville Blower Company. The same year, the company began production of centrifugal compressors.

During the Second World War, the company made screw compressors for U.S. Navy submarines, which they used to blow ballast water.

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