Burmeister & Wain
| Burmeister & Wain A / S | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Aktieselskab (A / S) |
| founding | 1843 |
| Seat | Copenhagen , Denmark |
| Branch | mechanical engineering |
Burmeister & Wain Masking og Skibsbyggeri ( B&W for short ) is a former machine and shipbuilding company headquartered in Copenhagen .
B&W started out as a manufacturer of marine engines (initially steam engines and boilers , later marine diesel engines ) and as a shipyard . The drive machines were also used in railroad locomotives and power plants .
The traditional company was split into separate branches in the 1970s after a severe financial crisis, most of which were absorbed by other companies.
history
Origins and structure
The company was founded in 1843 on Copenhagen's Købmagergade as a small machine shop. In that year, the craftsman Hans Heinrich Baumgarten (1806–1875) , who came from Halstenbek in Holstein, received royal permission to set up a business after an audience with the Danish Crown Prince Christian .
The young company grew rapidly, so that the space on Købmagergade became too tight and funds were needed for investments and expansion. Baumgarten therefore took a new partner, Carl Christian Burmeister (1821–1898), into the company in 1846 , which was then renamed Baumgarten & Burmeister (B&B) . In the following year 1847 the workshop moved to Christianshavn and was supplemented by a large iron foundry . In 1848 B&B built its first steam engine . In 1851 B&B rented a shipyard from the Englishman Jacob Holm and built the first ship there in 1854, the S / S Hermod .
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In 1861 Baumgarten withdrew from the day-to-day management of the company and became a silent partner . In 1865, the Englishman William Wain (1819–1882), who had previously worked for the Royal Danish Navy and its docks, joined the company as a replacement and supplement . In 1872 the company traded as Aktieselskabet Burmeister & Wain (B&W) and founded its own shipyard on the offshore island of Refshaleøen ( 55 ° 41 ′ 35 ″ N , 12 ° 37 ′ 0 ″ E ). Around 1870, B&W also tried to manufacture steam locomotives , but quickly gave up the business. B&W became the largest employer in town. In 1880 the company was called Burmeister & Wain Masking og Skibsbyggeri .
In 1890 B&W built its first internal combustion engine , a paraffin engine . Chief engineer Ivar Knudsen established the connection to Rudolf Diesel , so that B&W received the exclusive license for Denmark in 1898 to manufacture the diesel engine patented the previous year . After a few years of development, B&W achieved the breakthrough for diesel ship propulsion in 1912 with the Selandia , the world's first ocean-going motor ship .
In the decades that followed, the company continued to grow, moving into a larger factory in Teglholmen in 1920/21 ( 55 ° 39 ′ 2.8 ″ N , 12 ° 33 ′ 3.8 ″ E ) and developed into one of the world's leading manufacturers of diesel engines and Motor ships. In 1930 B&W built two-stroke diesel engines for the first time , which later became the standard for marine diesel engines . In addition to marine diesel engines, engines for diesel locomotives and power stations were also manufactured, for example B&W built the diesel engine for the HC Ørsted Værket power station in Copenhagen in 1933 . With an electrical output of 12 megawatts, this engine was the largest diesel engine in the world for more than thirty years. It was used in the power plant as a peak load reserve until 2003 and can now (still in working order) be viewed in the DieselHouse , an MAN operating museum in Copenhagen.
In a warehouse in Christianshavn, near the former factory premises, the B&W Museum has recently been set up, which shows the development of the company.
Decline and division
After the Second World War, B&W came under increasing financial pressure in the 1960s due to the global price war on the shipbuilding market and the resulting shipyard crisis . In 1971 it was decided to separate the ailing shipbuilding division (B&W Skibsbyggeri) from the rest of the company (B&W Motor- & Maskinfabrik) . The latter was divided again around 1980:
shipbuilding
After the separation in 1971, the shipyard continued to produce until 1996 despite ongoing financial difficulties. Then - after more than 1000 ships - this area was broken up and the various locations were taken over by different companies ( Kockums , Tschudi & Eitzen , Giuseppe Bottiglieri , ...).
Diesel engines
From 1979/80, the diesel engine construction division formed its own company, B&W Diesel A / S , which was sold to MAN . The area was renamed MAN B&W Diesel , MAN Diesel and ultimately MAN Diesel & Turbo , so that the name Burmeister & Wain or the abbreviation B&W ultimately disappeared from the company name and is only continued as a brand by MAN . Two-stroke marine diesel engines based on B&W design are among the most efficient heat engines in the world.
Energy Technology
The area of power plant and energy plant construction ( Burmeister & Wain Energi A / S , short: BWE ), which built stationary furnaces , steam boilers and complete power plant systems , was created around 1960 by merging the B&W activities in this area with those of the company Tøma A / S in Tønder .
BWE was sold to Lentjes in 1980 . Lentjes brought BWE into the joint venture Babcock Lentjes Kraftwerkstechnik . From there in 1997 the Danish investor FLS Industries took over the former BWE, split it up and sold it in parts. Various companies emerged from this, some of which still bear the name Burmeister & Wain in the company today:
- Burmeister & Wain Energy in Kgs. Lyngby , system builder for furnaces, steam boilers, flue gas cleaning systems and complete power plants
- Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor A / S , a plant construction company for diesel engine power plants and other small power plants, is part of the Mitsui Group
- Boiler Works A / S in Tønder
literature
- Johannes Lehmann: Burmeister & Wain. Gennem hundrede Aar. (Editor: Burmeister & Wain, Masking og Skibsbyggeri). Berlings, Copenhagen 1943.
Web links
- Construction list of the Burmeister & Wain shipyard ( Memento from April 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (Danish)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sebastian Tuschick: Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen (B&W) ( Memento from January 6, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ HC Ørsted Power Station. dongenergy.com, archived from the original on May 28, 2012 ; accessed on October 14, 2016 .
- ↑ Internet presence of the DieselHouse museum
- ↑ a b c Company profile. boilerworks.dk, archived from the original on May 4, 2007 ; accessed on October 14, 2016 .
- ↑ Internet presence of Burmeister & Wain Energy A / S
- ↑ Internet presence of Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor A / S