The History of Cooper-Bessemer Integral Engines & Compressors

ADAPTED FROM THE KNOX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
https://www.knoxhistory.org/ 

History of Cooper – The Beginning

Ohio brothers, Charles and Elias Cooper, were born on the family farm three miles south of Mount Vernon, Ohio soon after their father settled here in 1810. In 1832, they tried their hand at operating a coal mine in Zanesville, but they soon became fascinated with the old Davis Foundry there, and they decided to come home and open a foundry of their own in Mount Vernon. They financed their project by selling one of their three horses for $50.00. Their new “one-horse” operation was powered by another horse named Bessie until 1836, when a small steam engine was built and installed to power their foundry.

During the 1840’s the company built carding machines, special power machinery, plows and hollow-ware vessels. Beginning in 1846, the company also supplied war machinery for the government during the War with Mexico.

By the 1850’s Cooper was building blast furnace blowing engines and a few early railroad steam locomotives, although Charlie Cooper quickly found the railroaders slow to pay their bills, so he turned his attention toward their entry into the competitive world of steam-operated farm engines.

After the Civil American War, Charles Cooper brought in new talent that allowed them to expand into producing the efficient, gigantic Corliss type industrial steam engines while they continued to build their standard line of grist mills, saw mills, cotton gins and farm steam engines.

In 1875, partner Colonel George Rogers patented an innovative “bevel gear” attachment, designed to transfer power from the crank shaft of a farm engine to its rear wheels, making it a self-propelled traction engine. The design caught on quickly and was improved even more a few years later with the development of the self-steering mechanism, eliminating altogether the need for horses to pull or steer the large engines. By the late 1870’s Cooper’s reputation as an innovative, reliable engine was established nationwide. By the mid-1880’s, there were more than 1,000 C. & G. Cooper steam tractors were in use throughout America.

The 1890’s saw the C. & G. Cooper Co. move away from farm engine manufacturing, expanding their production of the Corliss engine instead, which was sold to large mills and manufacturing plants. During the early 1900’s, new developments in the natural gas industry led the Company toward increased emphasis on producing natural gas internal combustion engines.

But America’s participation in World War slowed Cooper’s shift from steam to gas. Our armed forces needed hasty production of large caliber shells, and soon a munitions department was set up which was produced 1,000 three-inch shells daily.

In 1920, B. B. Williams was elected president of the company and presided over many of the important new chapters of the Cooper story.

The Cooper-Bessemer Era

The Bessemer Gas Engine Co. of Grove City, Pennsylvania, was started in the 1890’s and by the 1920’s had one of the world’s largest industrial plant foundries among its 29 buildings. Their need for additional capital along with Cooper’s need for additional production facilities resulted in the merger and formation of The Cooper-Bessemer Corporation on April 4, 1929.

The negative economic impact of the depression years was lessened at Cooper-Bessemer by the production of diesel locomotives and the supercharging of marine and stationary diesel engines. Outstanding wartime engine production brought the achievement of the Maritime “M” and Army/Navy “E” Awards.

In 1936, Cooper-Bessemer introduced the GMV integral gas engine compressor which was produced for many years at the Mount Vernon plant. This engine, manufactured in four through ten cylinder models, became the most responsive product to scavenging innovations, and it created greatly improved efficiency and increased specific power output. After 1978, these engines incorporated the “CleanBurn” concept technology which greatly reduced nitrous oxide emissions, meeting even California’s most stringent state standards. Over more than fifty years, nearly 5,000 GMV type units were made by Cooper-Bessemer in the United States as well as through licensees in Russia, Ireland, France and elsewhere. The GMV’s were installed in 43 countries worldwide and many are still in operation today.

Cooper-Bessemer’s involvement with rotating machinery began in 1950 with the design and ultimate production of turbochargers for engine use. Soon after, Cooper-Bessemer was awarded a contract with the Atomic Energy Commission for 44 special centrifugal compressors for the gaseous diffusion plant at Piketon, Ohio. In 1960 they were the first to introduce a two-stage centrifugal pipeline booster driven by a Cooper-Bessemer power turbine receiving gas energy from a Pratt & Whitney jet-gas turbine.

In 1965, the Cooper-Bessemer corporation diversified into Cooper Industries, with Mount Vernon and Grove City, PA., operations comprising the energy segment of the business. Two years later, the Cooper Industries headquarters relocated to Houston, Texas. In 1995, the Cooper-Bessemer division, along with all other oil and gas divisions, were spun off from Cooper Industries to Cooper-Cameron with a name change to Cameron just a few years later.

Today, Cooper Machinery Services is the O.E.M. for Cooper Bessemer products and continues to provide parts, service, upgrades, and overall support for the product line.