by fitter » Tue Oct 12, 2021 5:36 pm
Before Doxford built their first slow speed engine in 1921, the 540L4 that was installed into the Yngaren of 1921, (excluding single cylinder prototypes since 1911), Karl Otto Keller, a Swiss engineer who had been working for Vosper Thorneycroft on submarine engine design, was sent to Doxfords to investigate the possibility of an opposed piston design engine for the otherwise steam powered Vickers K class submarine. In 1915 he submitted a design for a quadruple, six cylinder engine installation driving two propellers. Doxfords made a single cylinder prototype that was sent to the Admiralty but the proposal was never taken up. The prototype was then sent to the City and Guilds Institute in London and has never been heard of since. Obviously, having invested in castings and forgings for the proposed design, Doxfords would be anxious to recoup the commitment and a series of two cylinder generator engines were fitted to a few ships. Sun Shipbuilding, Pennsylvania, installed some in their Doxford powered ships for Henry Ford of Ford motor company fame for his Great Lakes bulk carriers. Doxfords were building their own steam engines that predated the diesel engine and the diesel engines. They continued the steam engine production throughout the Second World War. After the war they said they didn't have the production facilities to produce steam, slow speed main engines and auxiliary engines so they stopped manufacture of the auxiliary engines. PIctures of Doxfords steam engines and the two cylinder generator engines appear on page 4 in this thread. I acquired a set of microfiche slides of the drawings of the six cylinder submarine engine and these are in John Jordan's book on the history of Doxford engine design, illustrated on page 11 in this thread. The book is still available.