Bell & Gossett Oil-Less Air Compressor & Vacuum Pump, Guelph, Ontario

A Canadian-made Bell & Gossett Oil-Less Air Compressor and Vacuum Pump I recently picked up.  The pump was made in Guelph, and the electric motor by the Prestolite Company of Sarnia.  It runs like a charm.  To convert from compressor to vacuum pump, you simply swap the intake and output ports.  I hope it will come in useful to use with an air gun to blow dust off of parts in an area of my barn too far from my main compressor.  But even if it doesn't, it's Canadian-made and it's cool!

Bell & Gosset was founded in 1916 to manufacture water pumps. The company continues to operate out of Morton Grove, Illinois.  It became a part of the huge ITT enterprise at some point in the past.

Oil-lubricated compressors contaminate air with oil.  In 1954, Bell & Gossett engineers discovered that carbon rings on pistons could eliminate this problem. The patent number on my air compressor is the result of their work.  This began the era of oil-less articulating piston compressors. In the original patent diagram below, the wearing skirt (14) is composed of U.S. Graphite No. 39.  In the mid-1960's, carbon was replaced by polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).