Corliss Steam Engine

The Corliss Steam Engine and Linde-Wolfe Compressor are from the old Diehl Brewery Plant in downtown Defiance. The family of Irel E Ashbaugh, a Diehl, Inc Engineer, donated the builiding in his memory in 1972 to house the machinery. This mechanical powerhouse revolutionized the manufacturing process throughout America and allowed industry to move away from the rivers they once depended on to power their factories. Our corliss was manufactured by the Bass Foundry and Machine Co., in Ft. Wayne, IN. The compressor was made by the Fred Wolfe Co., Chicago, IL. The engine and compressor share a common shaft on which a flywheel is mounted measuring ten feet in diameter. Live steam was piped to the engine from a boiler. The compresssor was added to the corliss in the late 1800's during an expansion of the brewery. It operated twenty-four hours a day providing refrigeration for the brewery and then the condensary built in 1923. New technology replaced this workhorse in 1968.