That is a large early 20th century horizontal double-acting air or gas compressor with a direct drive synchronous motor. The oldest machine of it's type that I worked on was a 1917 Ingersoll Rand vacuum pump with a 22 inch piston at the Diamond Almond plant in Orange County California.
Frick was an old refrigeration pump company back at a time when Ammonia was used as a refrigerant. Given the quality of this image, it could still be in use no matter what it is pumping.
A hundred years ago I could probably tell you exactly how that thing worked. Now, decades later, it's just an artful jumble of metal and moving parts. :)
The left side is the crankcase. The connecting rod is attached to something called a crosshead. It is sort of a piston but the cylinder is two semi-circles. Turn these two characters ( ) 90 degrees to see what I mean. The purpose of the crosshead is to translate the piston rod to straight back and forth linear motion.
The actual piston rod is round and precision ground. The inboard cylinder in this case has a packing box to prevent leakage of air or gas to the atmosphere. Most modern double acting compressors use mechanical seals. This allows the air or gas to to be compress on both the inboard and outboard strokes. The things sticking out of the distance piece and the outboard end are valve assemblies. There will be four more on the far side for a total of 4 suction and 4 discharge valves. Double acting compressors do not use a single horsepower more to compress twice the volume.
Here is an example of a crosshead. What is not shown is threaded hole where the piston is rod is attached. I hated the job of handling a 100+ pound wrench and beating the crosshead nut 20 times with a 20 pound sledge hammer (especially when dealing with a 4 or 6 cylinder compressor:)
That is a large early 20th century horizontal double-acting air
ReplyDeleteor gas compressor with a direct drive synchronous motor. The
oldest machine of it's type that I worked on was a 1917 Ingersoll
Rand vacuum pump with a 22 inch piston at the Diamond Almond
plant in Orange County California.
Frick was an old refrigeration pump company back at a time when
Ammonia was used as a refrigerant. Given the quality of this
image, it could still be in use no matter what it is pumping.
A hundred years ago I could probably tell you exactly how that thing worked. Now, decades later, it's just an artful jumble of metal and moving parts. :)
DeleteOkay, I'm impressed. I guessed it was a stationary steam engine.
DeleteThe left side is the crankcase. The connecting rod is attached to
ReplyDeletesomething called a crosshead. It is sort of a piston but the cylinder
is two semi-circles. Turn these two characters ( ) 90 degrees to see
what I mean. The purpose of the crosshead is to translate the piston
rod to straight back and forth linear motion.
The actual piston rod is round and precision ground. The inboard
cylinder in this case has a packing box to prevent leakage of air
or gas to the atmosphere. Most modern double acting
compressors use mechanical seals. This allows the air or gas to
to be compress on both the inboard and outboard strokes. The things
sticking out of the distance piece and the outboard end are valve
assemblies. There will be four more on the far side for a total of
4 suction and 4 discharge valves. Double acting compressors do not
use a single horsepower more to compress twice the volume.
Here is an example of a crosshead. What is not shown is threaded
hole where the piston is rod is attached. I hated the job of
handling a 100+ pound wrench and beating the crosshead nut 20
times with a 20 pound sledge hammer (especially when dealing with
a 4 or 6 cylinder compressor:)
https://4.imimg.com/data4/NH/EC/MY-2955146/air-compressor-crosshead-500x500.jpg