BRANCHOFFICES

NEW YORK, N.Y. TULSA, OKLA

JOHN CARRUTHERS, PREST.
PITTSBURGH, PA. PARKERSBURG, W. VA. EDWIN J. FITHIAN. TREAS.
ARTHUR J. HILL, V. PREST.
CHICAGO, ILL. BREMEN, OHIO JOHN MCCUNE, JR, SECY.

ALL AGREEMENTS CONTINGENT UPON GOVERNMENTAL REQUIREMENTS, STRIKES, ACCIDENTS OR OTHER CAUSES BEYOND OUR CONTROL
STENOGRAPHICAL ERRORS SUBJECT TO CORRECTION.

Bessemer Gas Engine Conversion

West Michigan Old Engine Club, Inc.

Scottsville, Michigan
August 1, 1997

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Historical Significance Of Landmark The Bessemer Engine Company:
"The Formative Years"
This Engine conversion is one of very few remaining
examples of a population of 10,000 engines used in the Dr. Edwin J. Fithian who with John Carruthers founded
extraction of petroleum by the South Penn Oil Company the Bessemer Company, was born on the first day of the
from wells in New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Battle of Gettysburg, July 1 1863, in Portersville,
These engines made possible the early development of the Pennsylvania.
petroleum products which fueled the industrial develop-
ment beginning at the turn of the century until other His father, I.N. Fithian was a cabinetmaker who, upon the
petroleum deposits were discovered. Many of these advent of machine-made furniture, moved with his family
engines gave faithful service until they were abandoned to the Butler County oil fields, there to engage in both the
when the oil fields were depleted beyond profitability. retail furniture business and undertaking.

The history of this landmark is closely aligned with the At twelve his son E.J. was painting furniture; at fourteen,
history of the Bessemer Gas Engine Company, whose driving the delivery wagon and making sleds for the boys
letterhead from the early 20th century enhances the cover of the town. At sixteen he attended his last year of public
of this brochure. The Bessemer Gas Engine Company school. While acting as janitor in his spare time, at a
merged with the Cooper Company in 1929 to become the church, the local bank and the school, he earned twenty
Cooper-Bessemer Corporation. The following informa- dollars a month outside school hours. At seventeen he
tion was reprinted with editorial changes by permission worked as a clerk at a William Riddles store in Prospect,
from material updated from “THE FIRST HUNDRED PA.
YEARS”, a centennial booklet originally published in
1933 by the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation (Now known From the age of eighteen until he was twenty-eight, E.J.
as Cooper Cameron). It included material from “THE Fithian worked at housebuilding trades in the summer-
BESSEMER GAS ENGINE COMPANY” issued in 1911. time, and attended Grove City College in the winters.
He received his B.A. from the college and entered the
West Penn Medical College, graduating in 1892.

Figure 1: Advertisement featured in early trade journals.

2
In the Fall of 1892, he married Georgianna Shillito and The founders decided upon the name Bessemer for their
practiced medicine for a period of six years at both company because “Bessemer” denoted prestige in the
Portersville, PA. and Harmony, in Butler County. The Western Pennsylvania area, due to the advent of the
couple had two daughters, Leila and Mary. Bessemer Steel process, and the Bessemer Railroad oper-
ating in the oil field areas.
Early in 1896 a friend of Dr. Fithian, one George H.
Willetts who had a patent on an internal combustion During its first five years of existence, Dr. Fithian per-
engine, asked Dr. Fithian for some mechanical advice, formed the office duties involved as well as those of
after which they joined forces to build “gas engines”. In designing draftsman. After five years, business had so
1897, Mr. Willetts' brother Ruben, joined them as a increased that Mr. M.D. Murray, the shop foreman was
machinist and helper and together they developed the put in charge of the drafting room and a Mr. John
engine. The engine was single cylindered rated at two Wolfune Jr. an employee and stockholder, was promoted
horse power. to the position of shop foreman.

In the Spring of 1897 the Willetts brothers felt they had During the period between 1897 and 1898, the company
done enough development of the engine to manufacture it built a 16 hp engine, tested it and offered to sell it to the
commercially. Dr. Fithian disagreed with them and Oil Well Supply Company. Since the Oil Well Supply
offered to sell his interest in the project for $900.00, Company had just hired a graduate engineer, they turned
which was the amount he declared he had invested. down the Bessemer offer and advised that they would
develop their own engine. Dr. Fithian reports that they
The Willetts could not raise the amount so they in turn never did. At that time Bessemer was operating in a
offered to sell Dr. Fithian their share for $900.00 and to branch shop of the Oil Well Supply Company, at
continue working for the project for wages. Harmony, PA.

Thus in 1890, Dr. Fithian purchased the interest in the Due to expansion it became obvious that a shop of their
engine from the Willetts brothers. About that time he own would soon be needed. Mr. Bentley, a major
associated himself with one John Carruthers, an experi- investor, declined to invest further in such a venture, and
enced mechanic he knew, and discontinued the practice of offered his shares for sale. Mention of the matter was
medicine. made to John Carruthers who decided to buy Bentley’s
shares in 1898.
Together, Mr. Carruthers and Dr. Fithian formed the
Bessemer Gas Engine Company. In 1899, the Bessemer After looking around for a suitable shop location an offer
Gas Engine Company was incorporated under the laws of from Butler, PA was rejected in favor of one from Grove
Pennsylvania, and stock sold to the company employees City.
as well as a few citizens of Grove City.
Mr. Carruthers came to Grove City, examined the site
offered, and liked it. The property cost the citizens of
Grove City $1500.00.

Figure 2
1. Sight feed cylinder lubricator.
2. Crank pin grease cup.
3. Cross-head pin grease cup.
4. Eccentric complete.
5. Piston head.
6. Igniting flue.
7. Igniting tube.
8. Dialed and indexed gas stop cock
for cylinder supply.
9. Bunsen burner for igniting tube supply.
10. Slide valve cap complete.
11. Internal rock arm.
12. Exhaust flange.
13. Air and gas valve complete.
14. Gas regulator. Gasometer action.
15. Governor swing complete.
16. Rock shaft.
17. Slide valve.
18. Rock shaft follower
Bessemer engine conversion components are shown in figure 2 19. Governor block.
reproduced from a copy of the kit instructions provided by the
3
Mr. Carruthers moved to Grove City, and supervised the
The Bessemer Roller Oil Well
installation of the machinery in preparation for a full-
fledged manufacturing plant operation. Pumping Powers
Figure 3
The Engine Conversion

Bessemer management’s first plans were to market a "gas

operated cylinder outfit" (See Figure 2 on preceding page)
to replace the steam cylinders on their own steam engine
beds. The word "gas" in this instance refers to the plenti-
ful natural gas available at every oil well.

To render the proposition more practical, it became neces-

sary also to provide a "friction clutch" and pulley to go on
the steam shaft. The purpose of the friction clutch was to Figure 3 show a Bessemer Roller Oil Well Pumping powers.
provide a disconnection of the load from the engine in The gas engine conversions provided the energy to operate the
order that it could be started by hand. After examining “Pumping Powers”.
the present clutches on the market, it was decided to
develop a clutch of their own, which the engineers of the Using the compressors and added machinery, Bessemer
company proceeded to do. then began to offer a system of producing gasoline from
"casing head natural gas". In the Bessemer laboratories
The Bessemer clutch was automatic in adjusting itself to an "absorption system" was used to determine the quanti-
the drilling and pumping loads. With the new clutch ty of gasoline available from 1,000 cu. ft. produced by
ready, the company then designed and manufactured two their compression machinery.
sizes of cylinders, one at 10 hp and another at 15 hp. Dr. Fithian mentioned in passing, that upon entering the
Dr. Fithian relates in his autobiography and company his- Washington patent office to patent the compression sys-
tory that it took two men approximately one day of work tem they found a man named Gary, who had just secured
to remove a steam cylinder and replace it with the a patent very much like that which they were about to
Bessemer gas cylinder. register.

The outfits were offered to the oil producers at from To simplify the obvious problem about to occur,
$125.00 to $175.00 with the entire outfit, cylinder, gas Bessemer’s representatives purchased Gary’s patent and
regulator, and clutch installed. During the Summer 1898 gave the resulting use of its principle to the oil producers
the young company contracted with the South Penn Oil without royalty charges.
Company for several outfits.
John Carruthers, president of the Bessemer Gas Engine Company was
However, Bessemer could not furnish them fast enough so born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1855.
the buyers agreed to pay a royalty fee of $20.00 for each Always interested in machinery and machine shops he was a member
outfit to Bessemer and co-produced them at their own of the firm of Carruthers and Peters which for some time operated at
plant at Alleghany, PA. Colloy, PA.

South Penn averaged two hundred units per month at their In 1898, Mr. Carruthers moved to Grove City, PA where he got inter-
ested in the young Bessemer Gas Engine Company.
shop, and took all Bessemer could produce for the next
three years. He was a "joint-patentee" with Dr. Fithian of their automatic friction
clutch.
South Penn made use of about 10,000 for the pumping of
Mr. Carruthers' wife, whom he married in 1880, was Laura J. Warthey.
their own wells in Western Pennsylvania and West
Virginia.
Historical Development
Later Development
Mr. Arthur Hull and Jack McCune had been associated The Bessemer Engine Conversion kits were developed to
with Mr. Carruthers before he joined Bessemer, and pro- convert steam engines, economically, to operate using nat-
ceeded to move to Bessemer in the early 1900s. ural gas available at the well head. The engine which is
From 1903 until 1907, Bessemer expanded their operation the subject of the brochure, was built originally as a steam
to produce engines from five to forty horse power. Later, engine in the 1880’s by the William J. Innis and Company
in 1907 and 1908 they developed the direct engine driven in Oil City, Pennsylvania. The original engine was as
gas compressor. shown in Figure 4 on the following page.
4
“Innis Steam Engines” written by David L. Weber includes the production of sucker rods to steam engines.
following information (Reprinted here with permission of the Contemporary accounts state that the machine shop con-
author) about Innis steam engines and the Innis companies. tained 6 large lathes and a heavy planer, in addition to
numerous other machine tools used in engine building.

Innis Steam Engines Innis steam engines were used in most existing oil fields
David L. Weber, 1995 during the 1880s. One 15 H.P. engine produced by this
firm was used on an oil well near Baku, Azerbaijan. This
William Innis, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, was well was located on an oil lease owned by the Nobel
an oil well driller in Venango County, PA, during the Brothers of Sweden. (Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite
1860s oil boom. He lost his business during the 1866 oil and originator of the Nobel Prizes, headed the firm.)
price collapse and was left with a lathe at Pioneer, PA,
located halfway between Titusville and Oil City. Innis steam engines were manufactured in 15 and 30 H.P.
sizes. They were 98 and 78 inches long and weighed
Innis used this lathe to produce the first practical iron 2800 and 3500 pounds, respectively. The Innis shops
sucker rod joint for the oil industry. The Pioneer shop employed 130 men for a short time during the 1880s.
was then expanded to manufacture the wooden rods,
which were produced at the average of 50-70,000 feet per William Innis sold his engine factory to the Oil Well
month. Supply Co., an Oil City manufacturer of sucker rods and
drilling tools, January, 1889. Innis was said to have given
The Innis sucker rod factory was moved to Seneca Street all his former employees money to buy new suits from a
in Oil City, PA, 1870. A two story factory building was clothing store following the sale. Oil Well Supply contin-
constructed, which was opened after Innis staged a ball on ued to manufacture steam engines (and later Simplex gas
the second floor. engines) at the facility until 1902. The buildings were
abandoned and razed when the Oil Well Supply complet-
A steam engine was manufactured in the Innis shop, ed a new factory for the production of oil field machinery
August, 1874. A blacksmith shop, pattern shop, and iron in Oil City, which was the largest plant of its kind in the
foundry were then added to the plant. William J. Innis world for many years.
and Company gradually converted their factory from the

Figure 4: Innis Steam Engine (Circa 1880)

5
Bessemer Gas Engine Conversion engines in his collection, two of which have restoration pend-
ing. When he learned that the Bessemer engine conversion
Mechanical Specifications: was available, he purchased it in northeastern Pennsylvania in
1988.
Bore: 7 1/2" 4 - 7 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/2" solid rings, piston weight
68 Ibs. Stroke: 12" variable; adjustable piston rod He began restoration in midsummer, 1989 with complete dis-
into cross head assembly. As part of the process, he made drawings and mea-
Rated hp @ 200 rpm: 12 1/2 surements to facilitate re-assembly. He made bolts to match
Diameter of flywheels: 60 1/2" the original configuration (Head height 1 and 1/4 + X-the bolt
Weight of flywheels: 540 Ibs. each diameter) for the exhaust flange, air mix base and governor
Operating rpm: 54 to 90, no load pivot pin. He was able to preserve a portion of the original
Cross head lubrication: oil drip each side. Innis Pin Striping on the engine base while removing the
overcoatings of paint. Figure 6 shows the paint removal
Connecting rod lubrication: grease cups both ends
operation.
Main bearing lubrication: wicked reservoir each side
Fuel: at present, propane @ 7" w.c. At well site, by Main crank journals and crosshead slides were rebabbited.
condensate gas or natural gas at the well head. Jigs were built to align the crank shaft, connecting rod and
piston rod with the engine base and the centerline of the
cylinder bore. New babbitt was poured and scrapped to size.
The following information, used by permission, was origi-
nally published in “Bores and Strokes” by the Cool Spring Figure 7 & 8 show these parts.
Power Museum -Dr. Paul Harvey.
The cylinder was honed and new piston rings installed. Two
of the tree porting gates on the top edge of the piston were
Hot-Tube Ignition rebuilt. Figure 9 shows the piston.

Method of Operation. Hot tube ignition was used with the Restoration took four years with many late nights working in
Bessemer engine conversions. This method has fallen into his spare time to complete the process. After restoration, the
disuse in this country with improvement in electric ignition. engine was installed on an ash base.
In England, however, this method is still used occasionally
on engines using illuminating gas. The tube E, Fig. 5, is At such time he is unable to continue to show his engine, he
closed at the upper end, and communicates at its lower end has made arrangements to donate the engine to the Coolspring
through the port B with the cylinder A. It is heated by an Power Museum for permanent exhibition. This Museum is
external flame from the Bunsen burner C, and is maintained located about 15 miles from Brookville, Pennsylvania, the site
at a full red heat. The chimney around the tube is lined with near where the engine resided for 75 years.
asbestos, and keeps the flame in good contact with the tube.
During the admission stroke, the tube is filled with products
of combustion at atmospheric pressure remaining from the
previous explosion. As compression goes on, the nonexplo-
sive products of combustion are crowded into the upper part
of the tube, while part of the explosive mixture in the cylin-
der is compressed into the lower part of the tube. The length
of the tube and the position of the flame are adjusted by
experiment, so that the explosive charge will just reach the
hot portion of the tube and be ignited at the moment when
ignition is desired. Shortening the tube makes the ignition
come later. With this device the actual time of ignition is
not very definite.

Engine Restoration
This engine would not have been available for recognition
without the industry and initiative of its present owner, Dale
Sonke. Dale has had an interest in early engines for many Figure 5
years. He has studied early and current publications to learn
how to restore and operate engines. He currently has six
6
 Restoration Photographs

Figure 6 Figure 7
Removing Paint Applied By Dale Haugh (Previous Owner) Connecting Rod Bearing (Brass) Boxes
original conversion kits were not shipped painted

Figure 9
Figure 8
Descaling Crosshead before pouring Babbitt slide bearing Rebuilt flow gates on top of piston
(Holed areas each side of Connecting Rod pin) (2 cycles, assists in Ex.-intake flow)
7
Acknowledgements The ASME History and Heritage Program
The Central Michigan Section of The American Society of
Mechanical Engineers gratefully acknowledges the coopera- The ASME History and Heritage Program began in
tion of the West Michigan Old Engine Club, Inc. in permit- September in 1971. To implement and achieve its goals.
ting this ceremony to occur within their show so that Dale ASME formed the History and Heritage Committee, initially
Sonke could receive this recognition while among his composed of mechanical engineers, historians of technology,
friends and peers. and the curator (Emeritis) of mechanical and civil engineering
at the Smithsonian Institution. The committee proved a public
service by examining, noting, recording and acknowledging
Engine Owner mechanical engineering achievements of particular signifi-
Dale Sonke cance. The History and Heritage Committee is part of the
This Bessemer Converted Engine is exhibited and operated ASME Council on Public Affairs and Board on Public
at various old engine shows in Western Michigan and Information.
Northern Indiana during the summer and at the Coolspring
Power Museum in Coolspring, Pa. during June & October. Since the ASME History and Heritage Recognition Program
began, 181 Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks, 6
Mechanical Engineering sites, and 6 Mechanical Engineering
Cooper Cameron, Heritage Collections have been designated.
Cooper Energy Services,
Cooper-Bessemer Reciprocating Products The ASME History and Heritage Program illuminates our
Terry Kearns, Manager of Application Engineering. technological heritage and encourages the preservation of the
physical remains of historically important works. It provides
an annotated roster for engineers, students, educators, histori-
ans, and travelers and helps establish persistent reminders of
where we have been and where we are going along the diver-
Text of the Bessemer Converted Engine Plaque gent paths of discovery.
Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark For further information, please write to:
Bessemer 12 Horsepower Conversion Public Information, ASME International
Engine c.1900 345 East 47th Street
The 1859 discovery of oil underground at Titusville, PA New York, NY 10017-2302
required engines to drive drills and pump oil, but steam Phone: 212-705-7740
engines proved costly to operate. In 1898 Dr. Edwin J. FAX: 212-705-8676
Fithian and John Carruthers formed the Bessemer Gas
Engine Company, and produced kits to convert steam
engines into the new internal combustion engines, fueled
ASME International
with oil-field natural gas. This gas engine, in service for 75 Richard J. Goldstein, President
years, is a kit conversion of an 1880s Innis steam engine. It William J. Bryan, PE, Vice President, Region V
illustrates the transition to internal combustion, and how William B. Weber, PE, History & Heritage Chair, Region V
machine life can be extended by clever adaptation of newer John R. Parker, PE, Vice President, Public Affairs
technology to save cost and resources. Erwin Fried, PE, Vice President, Public Information
David L. Belden, PE, Executive Director
American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1997 Arthur W. Ebling, Director, Midwest Regional Office

ASME History & Heritage Committee

J. Lawrence Lee, PE Chair
Robert M. Vogel, Secretary
ASME Central Michigan Section William J. Adams, Jr., PE
William DeFotis
Andrzej Gulinski Chairperson Burton Dicht
John Lobo Vice Chairperson Robert B. Gaither
Chad Omo Secretary R. Michael Hunt, PE
Koorosh Naghshineh Treasurer Richard S. Hartenberg, PE (Emeritus)
Euan F.C. Somerscales (Emeritus)
Joseph Van Overveen, PE, (Emeritus)
Kimya Morris, Staff Liaison H196