The scroll concept is actually quite old. The initial patents date back to the early 1900′s. Unfortunately the technology to accurately make scrolls did not exist and the concept was forgotten. In 1972 the scroll concept was re-invented by a Physicist named Niels Young. Mr. Young brought the idea to Arthur D. Little, Inc. of Cambridge, MA. Arthur D. Little saw its potential and began development of a feasibility model in January 1973.

The potential and advantages of the scroll compressor were immediately recognized by the refrigeration industry. Because of the tremendous pressure for better efficiency of refrigeration compressors in the early seventies, there was a strong incentive to pursue the scroll. The scroll compressor offers improved efficiency and also had the added benefit of greater reliability, smoother operation and lower noise. Arthur D. Little began development of a scroll type compressor for refrigeration for the Trane Co. in late 1973.

Today, scroll compressors are used extensively for refrigeration by many well known companies including Trane, Hitachi, and Copeland. The development of scroll type compressors for air has not been as rapid. Hitachi and Mitsui Seiki in Japan introduced oil lubricated scroll air compressors in the late eighties; however, these units were simply adaptations of their refrigeration compressors.

Iwata Compressor of Japan negotiated a license agreement with Arthur D. Little for air compressors in 1983. Iwata introduced the first dry, oilless scroll compressor in Japan in January of 1985 and in the United States through Powerex in May of 1987. Iwata’s initial offering was in 3 and 5 Hp. The main features of the Iwata oilless scroll compressors as compared to reciprocating oilless compressors is durability, reliability, noise and vibration.