Mr. O.K. Corken, the original founder of Corken Inc., was an ambitious entrepreneur and active contributor to the Oklahoma City community as a businessman, Salvation Army General and Lions Club President.  In 1915, Mr. Corken founded the Corken-Hooton Machinery Company which became the Corken Machinery and Supply Co., distributing pumps, belting, hose, and boiler room products to greater Oklahoma and surrounding states.

By 1924, O.K founded the Corken Pump & Machinery Company and his son Charlie later joined the family business after graduating from the Missouri Military Academy. Charlie who was active in local politics, his church, and performing arts, was an innovative marketer and is widely credited for expanding Corken from a local pump and tools distributor into a global brand and manufacturing Company.

In 1945, Charlie hired Garth Kennedy of Phillips Petroleum to design and manufacture a full line of Corken pump and compressor technologies which ultimately lead to the development of many of the products Corken still manufactures today.

One of Charlie’s many notable achievements was the Corken Model 45 pump specified by NASA to fuel the famous X-15 Rocket Plane with anhydrous ammonia. Once flown by Neil Armstrong, the X-15 still holds the world manned-flight speed record of 4,520 miles per hour (Mach 6.7), set in 1967.