Antique Fairbanks Morse Compressor

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Pevehouse

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Hi everyone,
I hope I am posting in a suitable location. I just acquired an old 1 cylinder air compressor. System is tankless and driven by an old Morse 1/4 hp motor by belt drive. Mounted on a heavy steel frame. I was just wondering if there’s anyone familiar with these and if there’s any info to be found on them. I will post a few pics. Thanks in advance
 

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Pevehouse said:
Hi everyone,
I hope I am posting in a suitable location. I just acquired an old 1 cylinder air compressor. System is tankless and driven by an old Morse 1/4 hp motor by belt drive. Mounted on a heavy steel frame. I was just wondering if there’s anyone familiar with these and if there’s any info to be found on them. I will post a few pics. Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
I guess I could also mention the antique battery’s charger o got with the compressor. Looking for info on it as well
 

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Now isn't that little compressor just as cute as the Dickens? And just who/what are the Dickens anyway. How many settings, boost? Mike
 
FOMOGO said:
Now isn't that little compressor just as cute as the Dickens? And just who/what are the Dickens anyway. How many settings, boost? Mike
Click to expand...
Yes it is. I dug it out of the back of a van that was sitting in a field. The guy who owned it had no clue what it was, neither did I at first. Gave him $25 for the motor. Got home and cleaned it up a bit. Just can’t find any info out there on it
 
Not sure of the pressure. Need to oil it up and wire on a cord and see what happens
 
Well I cleaned the wiring up and wired on a test cord and lo and behold the motor fired right up. Kind of a strange sounding motor. The shaft floats in the motor and kicks out when started , kind of like a starter bendix
 
I wonder if it’s an older refrigeration compressor. Years ago I had a two cylinder model that came from a commercial freezer. It eventually died. When I took off the head it had a couple valves made from beer cans
 
I can't say specifically about your model, but attached is a pic of my compressor by Au-To Compressor Co, vintage 1917-ish. This unit has a very simple two poppet design to control air flow. One poppet is held in place by gravity only, and one poppet is spring biased. Quite similar to water pumps of the time actually..
It seems interesting to me that yours has only one 'port' for air flow. Or am I missing something?

IMG_AuTo-03.jpg
 
WesPete66 said:
I can't say specifically about your model, but attached is a pic of my compressor by Au-To Compressor Co, vintage 1917-ish. This unit has a very simple two poppet design to control air flow. One poppet is held in place by gravity only, and one poppet is spring biased. Quite similar to water pumps of the time actually..
It seems interesting to me that yours has only one 'port' for air flow. Or am I missing something?

View attachment 473049
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You are correct. It has one port for outlet air. I pulled the head last night and started cleaning the crank case out. Has what appears to be a leather wick which wicks oil up to oil the cylinder. Typical looking piston with I believe to be 1 cast iron ring. Can’t get the fitting out of the top to look at the valve but it appears to be just a solid flat washer, maybe spring loaded. I’m going to clean it up, paint it the original color and see what she does
 
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