Robert Napier & Sons
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Robert Napier & Sons was an engineering and shipbuilding company based in Govan , Glasgow , Scotland . The company existed from 1811 to 1900 and is considered a pioneer in steamship construction and a pacemaker of shipbuilding on the River Clyde .
history
Founding years
The company was founded in 1811 as the Camlachie Foundry boiler factory in Gallowgate near Glasgow by foundry owner John Napier. In the following year the Comet's steam boiler was built , the first steam-powered merchant ship. When the company founder died in 1813, his 23-year-old son David Napier initially continued the business for four years with a partner. In 1818 Napier built the machine for the first canal steamer to operate between Dover and Calais, the Rob Roy built at the William Denny and Brothers shipyard .
Robert Napier
Two years later, David Napier's cousin Robert joined the company as a mechanical engineer and blacksmith for Camlachie Foundry. Robert Napier began a five-year apprenticeship in his father's forge and continued his career in Edinburgh with Robert Stevenson . After working independently since 1815, he rented his cousin's boiler workshop and for a while mainly manufactured industrial steam engines. The first ship engine was designed by Robert Napier in 1823 as a side balancing steam engine for the steamer Leven built by James Laing . The machine was later used in another ship, the Queen of Beauty . A machine of this type has been preserved as a memorial in Dumbarton to this day . Napier built the machines for the two winning vehicles of the August regatta of the Northern Yacht Club, the Clarence and the Helensburgh in 1827 . The boiler factory moved in 1828 and, as the Vulcan Foundry, dedicated itself entirely to marine engineering. From around 1830, Napier worked on the development of the tower steam engine . During this development, David Napier is said to have drawn a design idea for the machine in chalk on the floor of his room around midnight and sent a domestic servant to David Tod. Death came as soon as possible, suspecting his employer was sick. Towards morning the design idea was discussed and implemented by a draftsman.
By 1833 45 ship engines had been completed. David Napier moved to London where he founded a new machine factory and Robert Napier continued to run the Vulcan Foundry on his own. In 1835 Robert Napier built the first steam engines for ocean-going ships and, after the two employees David Tod and John MacGregor had refused the purchase, bought the Lancefield Foundry, which (with later extensions) was active in mechanical engineering for a long time. In the same year he also manufactured a machine for the East India Trading Company's Berenice steamer . So she beat her sister ship Atlanta on her maiden voyage to India by 18 days. Another three years later, the engines of the 500 ton yacht Fire King were built , which is one of the fastest ships of its time with a speed of 15 knots. Also in 1838, Napier won an order from the British Admiralty to build two ship engines. Although he was initially forced out of business again, it proved in a parliamentary investigation that his machines were cheaper and more reliable than comparable machines in the shipyards on the Thames, which the Admiralty usually commissioned with the construction. Thereupon he succeeded in the following period in receiving numerous orders from the Admiralty.
1840s
The year 1840 was a milestone for the company. In a relatively short period of time four ships' engines for ocean liners were built and an order from the British government was won to build the engines for the ships Vesuvius and Stromboli . Napier signed a contract with Samuel Cunard, James Donaldson, Sir George Burns and David MacIver to co-found the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company . Between 1840 and 1865, all of the machines for the new ships were built near Napier. In addition, in 1840/41 a shipyard in Govan, which operated as Robert Napier Shipyards until 1852 , and the Parkhead Forge Steelworks were added. The shipyards were soon led by James R. Napier.
In 1842 Napier hired William Denny as chief draftsman, who later founded the Denny Brothers shipyard in Dumbarton together with his brother Peter . The shipyard in Govan switched its production to iron shipbuilding. The first ship of the new shipyard was the steamer Vanguard . The shipyard won an order from the Royal Navy to build the Jackal , the Lizard and the Bloodhound .
R. Napier & Sons
In the years 1852-1853, Robert Napier's two sons, James and Robert, joined the company as partners and the name changed from R. Napier Shipyards to R. Napier & Sons . The following year, the Cunard shipping company received its first iron ship, the Persia paddle steamer . In 1857 James R. Napier left the company and founded his own shipyard. Another highlight in terms of shipbuilding was the Scotia paddle steamer built in 1862 as the end of a series for the Cunard Line . On June 23, 1876, Robert Napier died, later called "The Father of Clyde Shipbuilding" (father of shipbuilding on the Clyde). Napier's chief designer, Alexander C. Kirk, was responsible for the construction of the first reliably usable triple expansion machine for the steamer Aberdeen in 1881 . In 1886, Parkhead Forge was sold to William Beardmore and Company, which continued to operate until 1976, when it closed. In 1899 William Beardmore and Company also took over the Govan shipyard and moved the company to Dalmuir in 1905 . Napier's shipyard in Govan was resold to Harland & Wolff in 1912 , which it finally closed in 1962.