OTTO DIESEL
This 50 hp engine is a direct injection Otto diesel built in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1929. It was used in The Ice House of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, to drive an ammonia compressor for cooling a brine tank to make ice blocks as well as an alternator to light the building. It was in service into the 1960s then standby.
AMMONIA COMPRESSOR
ALTERNATOR
This is the compressor and alternator that the Otto diesel drove. The exciter is between the units and the control panel is on the wall. The brine tank cooled by the ammonia compressor made crystal clear block ice that the nearby Amish community wanted.
NEW ERA
This 30 hp engine, built in Dayton, Ohio about 1896, originally powered
a flour mill in Morrisville, Pennsylvania.
It differs from the more common New Era design with its automatic
intake valve and sliding spindle ignitor.
It also has a longer main frame and round connecting rod.
The name plate is very large and detailed making it a very
unusual machine. It came to
the museum in the early 1990s.
WHITE AND MIDDLETON
This 7 hp engine was built in Baltimore, Maryland, about 1898 and last served
in the oil fields of West Virginia where it laid in the mud many
years. It was acquired by
the late Ed Middleton, restored, and donated to the museum in the early
2000s. It is interesting to
note that Ed was the son of Arthur Middleton who designed and built the
engine.