1883 Retired inventor John Bean set out to build a better insecticide spray pump.  

1884 Bean patents his high-pressure continuous action spray pump and sets up shop behind his house.  

1888 Bean's son-in-law David Crummey becomes the first president of the Bean Spray Pump Company.  

1901 At the age of 82, John Bean creates the Magic Pump, a vertical pump that yields a higher pressure than any other pump on the market.   

1904 On May 20, the Bean Spray Pump Company is incorporated.  

1928 Stock for the newly renamed John Bean Manufacturing Company is introduced on the San Francisco Exchange on Sept. 14. On Oct. 1, the acquisitions of Anderson-Barngrover Co. and Sprague-Sells (canning machinery) make the Bean Company the world's largest food machinery manufacturer. A contest is held for a new company name; the winning entry is Food Machinery Corporation.  

1929 FMC opens export department offices in New York and San Francisco.