What is this thing? Would you believe an air compressor? Yes, Ingersol-Rand built these awesome radial engine air compressors in the 1940s and into the 1950s. The six cylinder engine uses three of the cylinders for power and three of them act as the compressing parts of the program. As best I understand the majority of these units were sold to the railroads and used by crews in the field fixing tracks. They weighted in at more than 250lbs and were mostly either mounted on trucks or they were rolled around with a wheelbarrow like attachment.
The three cylinders that make the power have a 3 and 1/8″ bore with a 2.5″ stroke and the “compressor” cylinders have a smaller 3″ bore with the same 2.5″ stroke. Through some research we have learned that the engine has one crank pin, a master rod, five articulating rods, and three cams. Apparently it had 80psi of working pressure and made 36 cfm of air. One thing that this machine did not have were mufflers of any sort. We were going to tell you imagine how loud it would have been working near this all day but then we found a video of one actually running and that is posted below the photos. Aa you would expect it sounds like a small, old, airplane especially when the guy gooses the throttle.
This engine is in remarkable shape and looks like it is ready to fire off at any second. The one major departure I have seen with this engine apart from others is the presence of the crank handle where almost every other photo we have seen has either a pull cord (good luck with that!) or a pulley where some sort of starter could be hooked up to. I did not attempt to turn the handle on the engine but did take plenty f time to admire it and the fact that the factory maintenance plate was still present and readable.
One last thing. There’s no tank with this compressor. The two coils of pipe or tubing you can see at the bottom of the unit are basically a manifold. In reading stories, the men on the railroad would stand at the ready with their equipment and as soon as the compressor was fired up, their tools jumped to life. No building air in the holding tank meant immediate action.
I’ve never seen one of these before and changes are that you have not either. It sure seems like it is nicer to look at one sitting still than it would be to work next to the barking bastard all day, right?
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE PHOTOS AND THEN WATCH THE VIDEO FOR THE FULL EFFECT OF THIS COOL COMPRESSOR –
