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Building Marine Engines On a Quantity Basis By F. B. Jacobs How the Problem Was Solved | RODUCTION of marine en- gines on a quantity basis is a recent innovation brought about by the necessities of war. With ship- yards on the Great Lakes, the east, west and gulf coasts working might and day to turn out ocean going tonnage, unusual measures had to be developed to produce engines to propel these craft. Up until that time, several com- plete engines a year was considered sufficient production for one plant. The Hooven, Owens, Rentschler Co., Hamilton, O., successfully rose to the occasion in producing the neces- sary engines on a quantity basis. By means of jigs and special tools, these massive 2800-horsepower en- gines were "tooled up" much after the manner in which automobile en- gines are made in large quantities. At the present time, four complete engines per week are completed and shipped to tidewater and Great Lakes ports. The foundry is pro- ducing castings for one complete engine a day. This is the first of a series of practical articles describing manu- facturing operations at the Hamiil- ton plant. This installment deals with heavy.units such as the cylin- ders, crankshafts, columns, bed plates, connecting rods, etc. The second article will describe manu- facturing operations on. smaller units such as valve gears, main and connecting rod boxes, thrust bear- ings, etc., while the last installment will describe assembling operations. triple-expansion, Emergency Fleet. corporation Fig. 2--Three-cylinder, dicted that one but a slight increase in capacity, could deliver four complete 2800- horsepower marine engines a_ week, his statement would have met only amused incredulity. Yet, today, this feat is being successfully accomplished by the Hooven, Owens, Rentschler Co., Hamilton, O. Complete engines are leaving this plant almost daily, consigned to ports on the east, west and gulf coasts, and the Great Lakes. The company's foundry has been pro- ducing one complete set of engine castings daily for months. How this engineering feat was suc- cessfully accomplished forms one of the most interesting chapters of the industrial history which American en- gineers wrote during the war. It is a story of American mechanical genius, a record of adapting new methods to existing facilities and as a result supplying marine engines on a quan- tity basis to the growing fleet of cargo carriers being built for emergency war service. The Hooven, Owens, Rentschler Co. has manufactured corliss-type sta- tionary engines for rolling mills, power plants, etc., for many years. The company operates its own found- ry in connection with its machine shops, its engineering department is thoroughly organized, its machine tool equipment is modern, while the skilled mechanics employed are experts, each in his own line. Many of these men Fie years ago, had anyone pre- 273 concern with "company inverted type 2800-horsepower marine engine built for the have been with the company since serving their apprenticeships. Thus, they have grown up with the business and understand their work thorough- ly. Taken collectively, this high standard of personnel had much to do with the success attained in breaking all precedents in rapid marine-engine construction. At the request of the government, the company turned its attention to marine engines in October, 1917. The announced that it was in a position to deliver two complete 2800-horsepower engines a week. This estimate was not given much credence _by the government, owing to the fact that the mandates of time-honored precedent ruled that it took many weeks to produce cylinders alone. After negotiations were completed, the government placed an_ order for engines and the company en- tered production. The first engines built were of 1400 horsepower, de- signed for installation in wooden ves- sels. Later, the company built some 850-horsepower engines for tugboats and finally was awarded a contract for 2800-horsepower engines. It is with this type of engine that the pres- ent series of articles has to deal. As soon as the contract for these engines was signed, the engineering department immediately began the de- sign of jigs and special tools for quantity production of various parts. In this category were included drill- ing jigs and various milling, assem-