Skip to main content
Cooper-Bessemer Type GMV Integral-Angle Gas Compressor
Society
Main Category
Era
Date Created
Location Country
us
Coordinates
40.380682, -82.508368
Address1
Knox County Historical Museum
Address2
875 Harcourt Road
City
Mount Vernon
State
Country
Zip

This compressor was a product of the combined technology and design heritage of both the C. & G. Cooper Company of Mount Vernon and the Bessemer Gas Engine Company of Pennsylvania, which had merged in 1929. Ralph L. Boyer, the chief architect of the GMV, worked for Cooper-Bessemer from 1926 through 1965.

The GMV compressor's efficiency and compactness had a significant impact worldwide, and the compressor enjoyed a remarkable production run of 55 years. Its ingenuity lay in its compact, V-angle engine design with an articulated connecting rod arrangement, allowing two power piston connecting rods to drive onto one master compressor rod for each throw of the crankshaft. This design had lower bearing loads than a side-by-side rod arrangement, thereby increasing efficiency and production.

The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Japan, and the Soviet Union all produced GMV compressors, with more than 4,500 total being produced. The GMV compressor was valued for its superior safety, reliability, and cost of operation when compared to other compressors. Some of the machines produced in the 1940s are still operating full-time.

This GMV-4 engine is SN-42290, was manufactured in 1944 as a shop air compressor and installed in the Mount Vernon Power House, and was used until 2002. It is still capable of operation, but not set up to run.

Providing efficient compression energy for natural gas, petrochemical, refinery, and power industries around the world
Image Credit
courtesy www.osagcd.com
Image Caption
Cooper-Bessemer Type GMV Integral-Angle Gas E

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.