Page 12 - Reciprocating Compressors Operation Maintenance

Books should be written with audience awareness in mind. Our audi-
ence is clearly multifunctional. We deal with compression theory only
peripherally, perhaps duplicating some aspects of the high school physics
curriculum. We describe compressor operation in terms that the entry-
level operator will find of interest, and we go into considerable detail
whenever the main topic, reciprocating compressor maintenance, is
explained. This would surely be the part of this book that should be read
and absorbed by maintenance technicians, mechanic/machinist/fitters,
and millwright personnel, regardless of background and experience lev-
els. Reasonable people will agree that we don't know everything, that
humans are creatures of habit, that we may not have been taught by a
perfect teacher, that we are prone to forget something, that we can always
learn. Certainly the co-authors feel that way and will admit at the outset
that this book is not perfect. But, we believe it's a worthwhile start.
Most of the credit for assembling and organizing this material must go
to my able mentor and co-author John J. ("Jack") Hoefner, of West
Seneca, New York. Born in 1919, Jack qualifies as a member of the old
guard. He spent a career in the compressor technology field, retiring as
Field Service Manager from one of the world's foremost manufacturers
of reciprocating compressors. In his days, he has seen and solved more
compressor problems than most of us knew existed, and I continue to
express gratitude for his agreeing to share his extensive knowledge with
me and our readers.
Jack joins me in giving thanks to the various companies and contribu-
tors whose names can be found in the source descriptions beneath many
of the illustrations in this text. Listed alphabetically, they include Anglo
Compression, Mount Vernon, Ohio; Babcock-Borsig, Berlin, Germany;
Bently-Nevada Corporation, Minden, Nevada; C. Lee Cook Company,
Louisville, Kentucky; Caldwell, James H., as published in Cooper Besse-
mer Bulletin No. 129, 10M69; Cook-Manley Company, Houston, Texas;
Cooper Energy Services, Mount Vernon, Ohio; Exxon Corporation, Mar-
keting Technical Department, Houston, Texas; France Compressor Prod-
ucts, Newtown, Pennsylvania; In-Place Machining Company, Milwau-
kee, Wisconsin; Indikon Company, Somerville, Massachusetts; Joy
Manufacturing Company, Division of Gardner-Denver, Quincy, Illinois;
Lubriquip, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio; Nuovo Pignone, Florence, Italy; Penn-
sylvania Process Compressors, Easton, Pennsylvania; PMC/Beta, Natick,
Massachusetts; Sloan Brothers Company, Oakmont, Pennsylvania; Sulz-
er-Burckhardt and Sulzer Roteq, Winterthur, Switzerland and New York,

XI