INDUSTRY · HISTORICAL MARKER
Bessemer Gas Engine
Industry
4
Manufactured in the late 19th century, gas engines were used to drill oil and gas wells and to pump oil wells before electric motors came into use. This 20 horsepower engine pumped a well in Wirt County, West Virginia, from 1942 until the summer of 1988. The well produced approximately ten barrels of oil a week and was pumped daily. The engine was later restored and donated to The College of Mineral and Energy Resources by the Carnegie Natural Gas Company West Virginia Division.
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