Models
Model |
Horsepower |
Years |
# Produced |
|---|
Antique Engine Database
Cooper-Bessemer Corporation
The MR engines were widely sold at the time. Built in three, four, six, and eight-cylinder models, all shared an 18 x 22-inch bore and stroke and yielded 155 horsepower per cylinder. Cooper Bessemer engines used an unusually large crankshaft to insure long service. Most of these 18 x 22-inch engines used dual valves. All model LR engine sizes used a 16 x 20-inch bore and stroke, and all operating at 257 rpm. If memory serves, the synchronous speed for a 60-cycle, 14-pole alternator is 2571/3 rpm, thus the rated speed. The 16 x 20 inch, six-cylinder model shown here was J rated at 670 horsepower. The weight of the hare engine was 115,000 pounds, with the alternator, exciter, and auxiliaries raising this level even higher.
history
Charles and Elias Cooper opened a foundry in their hometown in 1832 after trying their hand at coal mining. They built carding machines, special power machinery, plows, and hollow-ware vessels in the 1840s and supplied war machinery for the government at the start of 1846 during the war with Mexico. They were building blast furnace-blowing engines and a few early railroad steam locomotives by the 1850s though they quickly found that the railroads were slow to pay, which resulted in the entry into the competitive world of steam-operated farm engines. Charles Cooper brought in new talent after the American Civil War and this allowed them to expand into the production of efficient gigantic Corliss-type industrial steam engines as well as their standard line of grist mills, sawmills, cotton gins, and farm steam engines. George Rogers, a partner of the company, patented a bevel gear attachment in 1875. It was designed to transfer power from the crankshaft of a farm engine to its rear wheels, making it self-propelled. This resulted in the development of a self-steering mechanism and eliminated the need for a horse to pull or steer large engines. Cooper was established as an innovative, reliable engine nationwide by the late 1870s, and by the mid-1880s, there were more than 1000 C & G Cooper steam tractors in use throughout America. World War I slowed Cooper’s shift from steam to gas engines as the company set up a munitions department and produced 1000 three-inch shells daily. In 1929, Cooper merged with Bessemer Gas Engine Co and they became the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation. Cooper-Bessemer Corporation diversified into Cooper Industries in 1965. Cooper-Bessemer division, along with other oil and gas divisions were spun off from Cooper Industries to Cooper-Cameron in 1995 with a name change to Cameron just a few years later. Cooper Machinery Services is the O. E. M. for Cooper Bessemer products to this day and continues to provide parts, service and upgrades, and overall support for the product line.
links
Content contributed by:
