Last year, GEM readers Mac and Betty Sine came across a treasure
trove of old photographs and manuals of Ingersoll-Rand industrial
engines produced in the teens and 1920s. The materials are in the
archives of the Dresser-Rand Company, Woodcliff Lake, N.J.
Working with officials at Dresser-Rand, the successor company to
Ingersoll-Rand, Mac and Betty have secured permission to have some
of these images reprinted in the pages of Gas Engine Magazine.
The quality of the images Mac and Betty have found varies, but
some of them are nothing short of amazing, showing fine detail and,
in some cases, giving a good sense of scale. Dresser-Rand calls
these ‘heritage’ engines.
Photo #1 shows a shop picture (taken in the old Ingersoll-Rand
plant in Painted Post, N.Y.) of a Ricardo combustion chamber Model
XG integral gas engine/compressor. The power-end cylinder bores are
17 inches, stroke (both power and compressor) is 20 inches.
The XG was introduced in the mid-1920s and was first produced
with a flat-type combustion chamber. Photo #2 shows an XG unit
installed in a gas transmission plant (the company name and
location of the plant are not identified). This unit has 18-inch
bore power cylinders and 32-inch bore compressor cylinders.
Special thanks to Dresser-Rand Company for permission to print
these photographs.
Engine enthusiasts Mac and Betty Sine are regular
contributors to Gas Engine Magazine. Contact them at: 13 Main St.,
Lawrenceville, PA 16929.
