The History of Ingersoll Rand
Engines & Compressors

The Ingersoll Rock Drill Company was founded in 1871 in New York City by Simon Ingersoll. The company was formed after the patent of a steam-powered rock drill. The company merged with the Sergeant Drill Company in 1888 to become the Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company.

Abijah Weston established a machinery repair facility to repair sawmill equipment at his sawmill business in the town of Painted Post, NY. After losing his sawmill to fire in 1896, he formed the Weston Engine Company to sell Imperial high-speed steam engines. After his death, the company was sold to the Rand Drill Company, a manufacturer of air compressors. In 1906, Rand merged with the Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company to form the Ingersoll-Rand Company.

The new company continued to manufacture air compressors, expanded their engine business to include gas engines and compressors. This led to the  introduction of the first vertical integral engine-compressor, the XOG in 1929. The engine-compressor was rated 90 HP. Over the years, Ingersoll-Rand continued to increase the size of their integral engines and expand their offering of both low-speed and high-speed separable compressors.

In 1986, Ingersoll Rand Company formed a joint venture with Dresser Industries to form Dresser-Rand. Dresser Industries would later merge with Halliburton Industries in 1999.

In 2001, Cameron’s Compression Systems group purchased Nickles Industrial, a supplier of Clark, IR, and Worthington engine parts headquartered in Ponca City, Oklahoma. For the next 2 decades, Compression Systems (now Cooper Machinery Services) has provided parts, service, repairs and upgrades for the three engine lines. Recently, through acquisition and organic growth projects, Cooper has expanded their product offering and now is a full service global supplier of products for Clark, Ingersoll Rand, and Worthington integral engines and compressors.