Cooper-Bessemer was a brand of industrial engines and compressors, manufactured in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The Cooper-Bessemer Corporation was formed when the C. & G. Cooper Company (founded in 1833) and the Bessemer Gas Engine Company (founded in 1899) merged in 1929. In 1965, the company was renamed to Cooper Industries and relocated to Houston, Texas.^[1] In the 1990s, Cooper Industries' Petroleum and Industrial Equipment Group was spun off to become Cooper Cameron Corporation, known as the Compression Systems group of Cameron International Corporation.^[2] Cooper Machinery Services is the current original equipment manufacturer for Cooper-Bessemer engines.

Products

Engines

In 1929, Cooper-Bessemer products included gas engine-driven compressors, stationary and marine diesel engines and gas engines. During World War II, Cooper-Bessemer contributed to the war effort by manufacturing diesel engines for troop and cargo ships as well as warships, tugboats, rescue and patrol boats. Cooper-Bessemer gas engines were widely used in the production of rubber, alloys, light metals, high-octane aircraft fuel, synthetic ammonia for munitions, and in refineries, chemical plants, shipyards and petroleum pipelines.^[1] Many early GE diesel locomotives had Cooper-Bessemer engines.

Compressors

From the 1920s to the 1980s, the company manufactured thousands of Cooper-Bessemer integral engine-compressors, including the GMV, GMW and GMX series, and the V-250, V-275, W-330, Z-330 and QUAD compressors. These compressors used a "compact, V-angle engine design with an articulated connecting rod arrangement, allowing power piston connecting rods to drive onto one master compressor rod for each throw of the crankshaft."^[3] "The GMV integral-angle gas engine-compressor was a major contributor to the world’s economy for more than a half century, providing compression energy for the natural gas transmission, gas treatment, petrochemical, refinery and power industries in the United States and forty-four countries around the world."^[4]

Current ownership

Thousands of Cooper-Bessemer engines continue to operate today. General Electric bought this product line from Cameron in 2014.^[5] Cooper Machinery Services is the current original equipment manufacturer for Cooper-Bessemer engines.