Richard Krebs and Kelly Krebs founded Krebs Engineers in 1952 and today FLSmidth Krebs is the world’s leading supplier of hydrocyclones, with offices in eight countries. Read how it all began.

Richard Krebs and Kelly Krebs founded Krebs Engineers

In 1950, Bob Clarkson and Kelly Krebs created a partnership called `The Clarkson Company`, for the sole purpose of manufacturing and selling Bob’s reagent feeder. In December of 1950, they purchased the rights to a cyclone like device called the Centriclone from an inventor named Norris Goodwin.

The Company was incorporated as Equipment Engineers in 1952, Dick Krebs, Kelly’s brother, was brought into the company later that year. In 1953, Equipment Engineers sold the rights to the Centriclone to Oliver Filters, a company that was later merged into The Dorr Company to become Dorr-Oliver. With the money from the sale of the Centriclone, the Company was able to develop the concept of the first heavy-duty mining cyclone, which had cast metal housings and replaceable
molded gum rubber liners.

Equipment Engineers sold its first commercial cyclone in 1953. It was a Model EE10-4 Cyclone sold to Sandy Muller Aggregate in Orange, California with serial no. 1000 (I guess they didn’t want Sandy Muller to feel like they were buying the first cyclone). In 1959, Kelly and Bob decided to split the Company into two separate companies.

Bob Clarkson took the valve and reagent feeder products and incorporated as The Clarkson Company.

Krebs Products in the Early Days

Richard and Kelly kept the cyclone line and the Company grew into what we know it as today, the world’s leading supplier of hydrocyclones, with offices in eight countries.

The Company changed its name from Equipment Engineers to Krebs Engineers in 1965 in honor of Dick and Kelly Krebs. Kelly died in 1959, and Dick died in 1962.

Dick and Kelly Krebs took a revolutionary approach to the calculation, design, and production of hydrocyclones and laid the base for the success of FLSmidth KREBS products today.

KREBS® - Desanders and Cyclones for Potable Water Treatment - Brochure