Across Main Street from the venerable old Salmo Hotel, and behind the
World's Largest Penny, are several pieces of machinery once used locally in the forestry and mining industries, including this rusting old air compressor. Made by Canadian Ingersoll-Rand, this compressor was probably used to power rock drills, and possibly other equipment in a local mine. Canadian Ingersoll-Rand made so many models of compressor for so many years that it's pretty difficult to assign an age to this one. In all likelihood, it is at least 120 years old.
Manufactured by Canadian Ingersoll-Rand in Sherbrooke, Quebec, the name plate above notes that it had a 10" bore and stroke, was limited to 120 p.s.i. of air pressure and was designed to operate at 275 R.P.M. The compressor bears serial number 7089. When in use it was usually driven by a steam powered engine.
Ingersoll-Rand remains a world leader in air handling machinery, manufacturing air compressors to this day.