Boat engine construction in Germany (Article)

BOAT ENGINE CONSTRUCTION IN GERMANY

COASTAL AREA (UNTIL 1945)

PART 1: THE BALTIC SEA REGION

BY WOLFGANG RUDOLPH

On the current state of research

The research into the history of boat engine construction on the German coasts must be described as unsatisfactory. For the southern Baltic coast region, only the two preliminary studies by Rudolph (1989, 1994) and the Faaborg company chronicle of the Callesen company (1989) are available; for the North Sea coast - in the broadest sense - there is Kaiser's chronicle of the Bergedorfer Motorenwerke (1977) and Vicco Meyer's engine chapter in Karring's description of the motor sailboats built by the Germaniawerft (1987). This situation is surprising, since the literary and archival source situation is not bad: there are sufficient contemporary reports and descriptions from the early days of development. For the period before 1945, researchers also have access to the "Communications of the German Sea Fishing Association", the "German Fish Industry", the "German Reich Address Book for Industry, Trade and Commerce" and the "Handbook of German Joint Stock Companies", as well as the annual reports of the regional Chambers of Industry and Commerce, the local address and telephone books, and finally the entries in the local commercial registers, as well as patent documents and the German trademark register. Competent contemporary witnesses from most of the companies in question are still alive. The boat engines preserved in museums form a third, if not overly extensive, category of sources, which unfortunately only covers part of the coastal area.

Technical definitions

In order to provide definitional clarity regarding the variety of engine technologies used in the early phase of boat motorization and which are no longer generally known today,

In order to ensure a clear understanding of the different technologies, some definitions should be given here.

Petroleum engine: Petroleum-powered low-pressure engine with external ignition of the fuel mixture in an evaporator capsule, which is kept glowing by a permanently burning Bunsen lamp (Figure 1 A).

Glow plug engine: Crude oil-powered engine operating in the lower medium pressure range with external ignition of the mixture on a cast-iron glow plug on the cylinder cover, which is only heated to a brown glow by means of a heating lamp when the engine is started (Figure 1 B ).

Brons engine: Crude oil-powered medium-pressure engine with self-ignition of the mixture in a special heater capsule that is firmly integrated into the cylinder head (Figure 1 C).

Figure 1A

Figure 1B

Figure 1C

Figure 1

a) Petroleum engine,

b) Glow plug engine,

c) Brons engine.

(From: Kirschke, Alfred: The Gas Power Machine, B. I, II. Berlin/Leipzig 1911, 1913)

The characteristics of the Otto engine (petrol-powered low-pressure engine with external ignition of the carburetor mixture by electric spark) are probably well known. and the diesel engine (crude oil-powered medium and high pressure engine with self-ignition of the compressed mixture in the cylinder head or in a cylinder pre-chamber).

From the point of view of the folklorist, who also researches the components of the experience of practitioners and the creativity of craftsmanship for the era of special industrialization under discussion, several engine parts offer themselves as indicators: namely the design of the cooling water inlet and the air intake flaps on the crankcase, as well as the shape of the screwed-on glow plugs and the type of regulator. The early engine builders experimented very eagerly with these parts. In our region, there were at least four variants in the shape of the glow plugs: tall cylindrical "hats" (with or without a narrowed neck), hemispherical "hoods" (with or without a protruding ignition pin), flat hoods that resembled a mushroom cap, and solid balls on truncated cones.

Figure 2 and Figure 3

Fig. 2 Left: Encapsulated centrifugal governor. Schematic representation from an operating manual for Callesen engines, Apenrade (mid-1920s). (All photos in this article by W Rudolph, all historical representations from the author's archive, unless otherwise stated). - Fig. 3 Right: Axle governor in the flywheel of the Paeschke engine, Freest (Cultural History Museum Stralsund)