Cooper Bessemer

Cooper-Bessemer refers to the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation and the Cooper-Bessemer brand of industrial engines and compressors, manufactured in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The Cooper-Bessemer Corporation was formed when C. & G. Cooper (founded in 1833) and the Bessemer Gas Engine Company (founded in 1899) merged in 1929. In 1965, the company was renamed to Cooper Industries and relocated to Houston, Texas.[1] In the 1990s, Cooper Industries' Petroleum and Industrial Equipment Group was spun off to become Cooper Cameron Corporation, known as the Compression Systems group of Cameron International Corporation.[2] Cooper Machinery Services is the current original equipment manufacturer for Cooper-Bessemer engines.

World War II poster promoting Cooper Bessemer engines.

Products

Engines

In 1929, Cooper-Bessemer products included gas engine-driven compressors, stationary and marine diesel engines and gas engines. During World War II, Cooper-Bessemer contributed heavily to the war effort by manufacturing diesel engines for troop and cargo ships as well as warships, tugboats, rescue, and patrol boats. Cooper-Bessemer gas engines were widely used in the production of rubber, alloys, light metals, high-octane aircraft fuel, synthetic ammonia for munitions, and in refineries, chemical plants, shipyards and petroleum pipelines.[1] Many early GE diesel locomotives had Cooper Bessemer engines.

Compressors

From the 1920s to the 1980s, the company manufactured thousands of Cooper-Bessemer integral engine-compressors, including the GMV, GMW and GMX series, and the V-250, V-275, W-330, Z-330 and QUAD compressors. These compressors used a "compact, V-angle engine design with an articulated connecting rod arrangement, allowing power piston connecting rods to drive onto one master compressor rod for each throw of the crankshaft."[3] "The GMV integral-angle gas engine-compressor was a major contributor to the world’s economy for more than a half century, providing compression energy for the natural gas transmission, gas treatment, petrochemical, refinery and power industries in the United States and forty-four countries around the world."[4]

Current ownership

Thousands of Cooper-Bessemer engines continue to operate today. GE bought over this product from Cameron in 2014.[5] Cooper Machinery Services is the current original equipment manufacturer for Cooper-Bessemer engines.

References
  1. Keller, David N. (1983). Cooper Industries 1833-1983. Ohio University Press. ISBN 0-8214-0751-1.
  2. Cameron History
  3. American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  4. C-B Engine Wins Heritage Landmark Award Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-14. Retrieved 2015-06-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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