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HOW THE DIESEL ENGINE CAME TO AMERICA
The BUSCH-SULZER Bros. Diesel Engine Company was another of the
enterprises founded by Adolphus Busch and carried on independently
of the brewery operation. The plant was located at Second and Utah
streets in St. Louis.
Adolphus Busch, in 1897, obtained the American rights to build Diesels. He
retained the inventor, Dr. Rudolph Diesel, as consultant, and the
company's first engine was installed in the Anheuser Busch power plant in
1898. As now is well known, the Diesel engine operates very economically,
using crude oil as fuel. It has no ignition as does the engine of the motor
car. The oil, after being vaporized, is subjected to such great pressure in
the cylinder, that the resultant heat reaches intensity, enough to explode
the compressed gas.
In the early days the Diesel engine was untried in this country for quite
a few years. There was some skepticism as to its efficiency, but as time
went on, the Diesel demonstrated year after year that it was a formidable
competitor of the steam engine.
Busch-Sulzer concentrated on stationary and marine Diesels. Many of its
engines wereinstalled in oceangoing ships and also large ferry boats.
Another big market for Busch-Sulzer Diesels was the public utility field.
Many municipalities, the country over generate electricity with
Busch-Sulzer engines.
With the outbreak of World War I, the Navy Department requested
Busch-Sulzer to undertake the design of several types and sizes of
submarine Diesels up to 2,500 horsepower; an assignment which no other
firm was qualified by experience to take or cared to undertake. August
A. Busch, Sr., immediately acceded to the Navy's request and the entire
capacity of the plant was reserved for Navy Diesels for the duration of
the war.
When the war was over, the Diesel was well established in the public mind
as a tried and proved prime mover. In the years immediately following
World War I, Busch-Sulzer finally began to become a profitable operation
and it so continued until the great depression which began in 1929.
The company was again in a position to serve this country during war. The
company responded to a request of the Navy Bureau of Ordinance to undertake
the production of some particularly difficult antiaircraft ordinance.
Busch-Sulzer also manufactured many types of Diesel engines for the Army,
the Navy, the Merchant Marine and for our wartime allies.
Upon conclusion of World War II, the company and its properties and good
will were acquired by the Nordborg Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.
The Nordberg company was an old, established manufacturer of Diesels and
worthy in every respect of carrying on the Busch-Sulzer traditions.
Footnote: Elroy Wilke, a Sub Vet with considerable experience on a variety
of submarine Diesel engines, recalls the Busch-Sulzer engines were used in
three "V" class boats, BARRACUDA, BASS and BONITA. Additional research
shows the BARACUDA (SS- 163), formerly the V- 1, the BASS (SS-164.),
formerly, the V-2 and BONITA (SS-165), formerly the V-3 were Portsmouth
Navy Yard boats, commissioned in 1924, '25 and '26. They were disposed of
in 1945.
Other US Submarines that had Busch Sulzer Diesels when they were
commissioned. From the Submarine Data Book Listed by:
HULL # NAME HP COMMISSIONING DATE
SS-31 G-3 1200 03/22/15
SS-44 L-5 1200 02/17/18
SS-45 L-6 1200 02/07/17
SS-46 L-7 1200 02/07/17
SS-48 L-8 1200 08/30/17
SS-56 N-4 600 06/15/18
SS-57 N-5 600 06/13/18
SS-58 N-6 600 07/09/18
SS-59 N-7 600 06/15/18
SS-74 O-13 1000 11/27/18
SS-75 O-14 1000 10/01/18
SS-76 O-76 1000 08/27/18
SS-77 O-16 1000 08/01/18
SS-98 R-21 1000 06/17/19
SS-99 R-22 1000 08/01/19
SS-100 R-23 1000 10/23/19
SS-101 R-24 1000 06/27/19
SS-102 R-25 1000 10/23/19
SS-104 R-27 1000 09/03/19
SS-106 S-2 1800 05/25/20
SS-159 S-48 1800 10/14/22
SS-160 S-50 1800 05/20/22
SS-162 S-57 1800 06/24/22
SS-163 BARRACUDA 4100 10/01/24
SS-164 BASS 4100 09/26/25
SS-165 BONITA 4100 05/22/26
We trained on these O Boats, sailed on the S boats, overhauled the rest
of them.
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