Rotary Piston Vacuum Pump piston pumps are used for some large scale vacuum applications. These pumps possess a sliding sleeve by which the gas enters, after that drawn right into a cylindrical chamber and exhausted by a rocking piston plunger. These pumps are very hardy and have pumping speeds that range between 15 cfm to 2,000 cfm and the pumps can reach a pressure of just one 1 x 10-4 Torr. Rotary piston pumps could be prepared for corrosive and oxygen service.