[1] The retort is named after Pumpherston, West Lothian, which was one of the major oil shale areas in Great Britain.
[3] The Pumpherson design was used at Newnes and Torbane, in Australia, by Commonwealth Oil Corporation.
The retorts at Newnes were later modified, by adding more off-takes, to make it better suited to oil-rich shale, by John Fell.
The resulting design variant was patented by Fell, and was referred to as a 'modified Pumpherson' or 'Fell' retort.
[4][9] The Pumpherston retort was a 35 feet (11 m) high cylindrical vessel containing two main sections.