Summary

Part of a collection of photographs, negatives and slides used for research by curators at Museums Victoria.

The machine was based on the principles outlined in Anthony George Maldon Michell's Australian Patent No.4627, for "Improvements in Mechanism for the Interconversion of Reciprocating and Rotary Motion", with detailed design supervised by Thomas Louis Sherman, an experienced automotive engineer who worked as Michell's senior design collaborator from 1920. It was originally built as a prototype for consideration by the Victorian Railways to be used for supplying compressed air to operate Westinghouse type brakes on suburban electric trains. According to S.E.A. Walker two similar units were built (assigned Machine Nos.2 & 3 by the firm), but there is no record of the design actually being adopted by the Railways.

Description of Content

First prototype crankless air compressor built by Crankless Engines (Australia) Pty Ltd in 1921, acquired by the Science Museum of Victoria in June 1924 (see ST 015370). Mounted on wooden plinth with cover plates removed for display. Eight-cylinder multistage reciprocating air compressor, rated with a capacity of 80 cubic feet/minute at 100 pounds per square inch, when running at 750 revolutions per minute, or 100 cu.ft/min at 100 p.s.i., when running at 1300 r.p.m.. The machine is double-ended, with four cylinders at each end equally spaced around the centre power shaft, with the axis of each pair of cylinders being parallel to the shaft. It incorporates A.G.M. Michell's famous crankless design utilising a thrust plate or 'slant' (visible through centre opening) in place of a more conventional crankshaft to transmit power from a revolving input shaft to the reciprocating pistons of the compressor.

Physical Description

Black and white silver gelatin photograph.

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