COOLSPRING POWER MUSEUM

The Coolspring Power Museum is located in Western Pennsylvania, not far south of Interstate 80 and just north of Punxsutawney, home of the famous Groundhog. Quite literally, the collection has something from every class and vintage era of internal combustion engine from 1877 to 1920. Though stationary engines from that era make up the core of the collection, you can also find some divergence into automotive, marine and agricultural engines into the 1930s and later. Plus some motor vehicles and tractors. According to Mike Murphy, current Vice President of the museum, 60-70 percent of those engines run, and are run regularly.

Coolspring Power Museum is a volunteer-run organization and if you join the other 500 members, you can help maintain or operate engines in the collection. Up to one third of the engines on display are on loan, mostly from members. In normal times, Coolspring has a large number of events and open days throughout the year. A large number of events were cancelled in 2020 due to covid, but the staff remains determined to go back to an active schedule as soon as possible.

The gigantic Snow gas engine is one of the headliners at Coolspring. Built in 1917, and fueled by natural gas, it makes 600 horsepower at 100 rpm. It ran a monstrous air compressor and was donated to the Coolspring by National Fuels. Its a two-cylinder but the pistons are in tandem, one in front of the other. One piston is 18 inches in diameter and the other is 24. The stroke is 48 inches. If we did our math right, that's 33,930 cubic inches displacement. Calculated torque would be 31,512 lbs-ft at 100 rpm. And you think you have a torque monster! The staff does startups several times a day when the museum is open to the public.