Kelvin Diesels

Last updated June 28, 2019

Kelvin Diesels is a manufacturer of marine diesel engines based in Glasgow, Scotland. The company's engines are used in a variety of vessels such as fishing boats and small tugs.

Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland, and the third most populous city in the United Kingdom, as of the 2017 estimated city population of 621,020. Historically part of Lanarkshire, the city now forms the Glasgow City council area, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland; the local authority is Glasgow City Council. Glasgow is situated on the River Clyde in the country's West Central Lowlands. Inhabitants of the city are referred to as "Glaswegians" or "Weegies". It is the fourth most visited city in the UK. Glasgow is also known for the Glasgow patter, a distinct dialect of the Scots language that is noted for being difficult to understand by those from outside the city.

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Sharing a border with England to the southeast, Scotland is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast, the Irish Sea to the south, and the North Channel to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, situated on the northern third of the island of Great Britain, Scotland has over 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

History

The company was founded in 1904 by Walter Bergius as the "Bergius Car & Engine Company". Bergius rented a premises in Finnieston Street, Glasgow, and set about developing his first car which he named the "Kelvin". The car was not a commercial success. However, its engine proved to be an excellent marine engine following trials in a rowing gig in 1906. Car manufacture was abandoned, and the company began to specialize in marine engines. In 1907, the company installed one of its engines in a fishing boat, and in 1908 produced its first purpose-designed marine engine. The name of the company was changed to the "Bergius Launch and Engine Company".

The company expanded rapidly with the move to a new factory at Dobbies Loan, Glasgow in 1910. Output of engines increased to over 700 a year, and in 1915 the poppet valve range of engines was launched; these engines would remain in production, in an updated form, until 1968.

Poppet valve valve typically used to control the timing and quantity of gas or vapour flow into an engine

A poppet valve is a valve typically used to control the timing and quantity of gas or vapour flow into an engine.

In 1921, Walter Bergius designed his sleeve valve range of engines. Though the engines performed well and were very quiet, a feature of sleeve valve engines, due to the lack of noisy valves and tappets, the engines were prone to excessive wear. The last sleeve-valve Kelvin engine was made in 1946.

The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in the United States in the Willys-Knight car and light truck. They subsequently fell from use due to advances in poppet-valve technology, including sodium cooling, and the Knight system double sleeve engine's tendency to burn a lot of lubricating oil or to seize due to lack of it. The Scottish Argyll company used its own, much simpler and more efficient, single sleeve system (Burt-McCollum) in its cars, a system which, after extensive development, saw substantial use in British aircraft engines of the 1940s, such as the Napier Sabre, Bristol Hercules, Centaurus, and the promising but never mass-produced Rolls-Royce Crecy, only to be supplanted by the jet engines.

Development of the Kelvin-Ricardo range of engines, designed to replace the sleeve-valve engine range, was undertaken between 1927 and 1930. Harry Ricardo, the famous engine designer, was employed as a consultant. The range was continuously developed and remained in production until 1971.

Harry Ricardo 20th-century British engineer

Sir Harry Ralph Ricardo was one of the foremost engine designers and researchers in the early years of the development of the internal combustion engine.

Kelvin-Diesel engines

The company's first diesel engine was introduced in 1931. This was a 2-cylinder engine which formed the basis of the model "K" range of engines, with 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, and 6-cylinder versions. Later in 1933, a smaller diesel engine called the model "J" was launched, with 2-, 3-, and 4-cylinder variants. The "K" range remained in production until 1974, and the "J" range continued until 1970.

The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber, is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to the mechanical compression. Diesel engines work by compressing only the air. This increases the air temperature inside the cylinder to such a high degree that atomised diesel fuel injected into the combustion chamber ignites spontaneously. With the fuel being injected into the air just before combustion, the dispersion of the fuel is uneven; this is called a heterogeneous air-fuel mixture. The process of mixing air and fuel happens almost entirely during combustion, the oxygen diffuses into the flame, which means that the diesel engine operates with a diffusion flame. The torque a diesel engine produces is controlled by manipulating the air ratio; this means, that instead of throttling the intake air, the diesel engine relies on altering the amount of fuel that is injected, and the air ratio is usually high.

The model "P" range was introduced in 1956, having been designed by Mr. W. Miller, who joined the company from Petters Limited in 1954. The "P", along with the model "R" and the model "T" range (current production models), were the first engines not designed by Walter Bergius that were made by the company. Bergius died in 1949.^[1]

Petters Limited, were a maker of stationary petrol and diesel engines from 1896 onwards. In 1915 Petter founded Westland Aircraft Works. In 1986 Petters Limited merged with one-time rival R A Lister and Company to form Lister Petter.

Later history

Following the death of the company's founder, Walter Bergius, in 1949, the family was forced to sell part of the company to settle death duties. In 1953, the company was acquired by the Associated British Oil Engine Company, a subsidiary of the Brush electrical engineering group. In 1961, the company name changed to Bergius-Kelvin Co. Ltd. and, in 1963, Gleniffer Engines was acquired by the company. Bergius-Kelvin was purchased by Ruston & Hornsby in 1966, who in turn were acquired by English Electric. The merger of English Electric with GEC, in 1968, led to yet another change of ownership. GEC consolidated all production of Kelvin Engines at Kyle Street in 1983. The company was sold to Lincoln Diesels in 1994, and relocated to Uddingston. In 1998, Torday and Carlisle Ltd. purchased the company.^[1]

The present time

In the year 2000, the company was purchased by British Polar Engines and engine production was moved to Helen Street in Glasgow. The company still produces a range of marine diesel engines.^[2]

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References

1 2 "KELVIN MARINE ENGINES". Sky-net.org.uk. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
↑ "Kelvin Marine Diesel Engines". Boatdiesel.com. Retrieved 1 November 2015.

External links

Official website

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[history-1] 1 2 "KELVIN MARINE ENGINES". Sky-net.org.uk. Retrieved 1 November 2015.

[2] "Kelvin Marine Diesel Engines". Boatdiesel.com. Retrieved 1 November 2015.