History of Sulzer diesel engines

Sulzer diesel engine of 1898

This article covers the History of Sulzer diesel engines from 1898 to 1997. Sulzer Brothers foundry was established in Winterthur, Switzerland, in 1834 by Johann Jakob Sulzer-Neuffert and his two sons, Johann Jakob and Salomon. Products included cast iron, firefighting pumps and textile machinery. Co-operation with Rudolf Diesel led to the construction of the first Sulzer diesel engine in 1898. In 2015, the Sulzer company lives on but it no longer manufactures diesel engines, having sold the diesel engine business to Wärtsilä in 1997. ^[1][2]

Overview

Sulzer built diesel engines for stationary, road, rail and marine use. The engine types usually comprise a number, then some letters, then another number. For example, 6LDA28 indicates a six-cylinder engine in the "LDA" series with a 28cm cylinder bore.

Stationary

Sulzer diesel engine of 1912 at the Internal Fire – Museum of Power in Wales

Road

In 1937, Sulzer introduced an opposed piston two-stroke diesel engine for road use. This was similar to the Commer TS3 but had a piston-type blower instead of a Roots blower. It was made in two sizes: 69mm bore x 101.6mm stroke or 89mm bore by 120mm stroke. The smaller version had two cylinders, produced 35 hp, and was intended for tractors. The larger version was available with two, three or four cylinders and was intended for trucks.^[3]

Rail

Sulzer diesel engine from a railway locomotive at the National Railway Museum, York, England

These are examples, not a full list.

Type LDA28

Example applications, 6 cylinders

• British Rail Class 24
• British Rail Class 25
• British Rail Class 26
• British Rail Class 27
• CIE 113 Class

Example applications, 8 cylinders

• British Rail Class 33

Example applications, 12 cylinders

• British Rail Class 47
• SNCF Class CC 65500

Type LVA24

Example applications, 12 cylinders

• British Rail Class 48
• SNCF Class A1AA1A 68000

Example applications, 16 cylinders

• British Rail HS4000

Type LV31

Example applications, 8 cylinders

• Russian locomotive class E el-8

Marine

Sulzer 9RTA76

These are examples, not a full list.

Type RTA76

Example applications, 5 cylinders

• USNS Paul Buck (T-AOT-1122)

Example applications, 8 cylinders

• MV Rena

Type TADS56

Example applications, 5 cylinders

• Galați-class cargo ship

Licences

Licences to build diesel engines to Sulzer's design were granted to Vickers-Armstrongs in the United Kingdom, to Busch-Sulzer in the United States, to Reșița works in Romania and to H. Cegielski – Poznań in Poland.

References

1. ↑ http://www.sulzer.com/en/About-us/History
2. ↑ http://www.derbysulzers.com/sulzerengine.html
3. ↑ Smith, Donald H. (1959). The Modern Diesel (13th ed.). London: Iliffe & Sons. pp. 192–193.