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Old Advertising VII – Buchi Turbocharging

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Dr. Alfred Büchi, a Swiss engineer, was the father of Turbocharging as we know it. Buchi went on to license his designs to numerous American (and Foreign) engine companies, many of which are listed in the 1951 advertisement above. A note – these were vastly all 4 stroke engine designs. It was not until the 1950s when Turbocharging on 2 strokes was perfected.

An Alco “Turbosupercharger” on a 6 Cylinder McIntosh & Seymour 539.

While everyone knows the familiar sound of turbo whistle – The Alco-Buchi Turbosupercharger produced an unmistakable sound.

Check out this fantastic video on YouTube by fmnut, of Ashtabula, Carson & Jefferson Alco S-2 #107, and the distinct sound of a Buchi design turbo.

Turbocharging is a topic I hope to greatly expand upon in time.

An unexpected find…

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A few month back, I was exploring a new store by my house called Rescued Metals & Equipment. Essentially, this is the “dumpster diving” division of a local scrapyard. They pull out any worthwhile metal, cool stuff, new steel/aluminum stock and anything else they might be able to sell. The ultimate in surplus stores. Browsing the racks, I stumbled on something I immediately recognized, an intake/exhaust valve. Without blinking, I bought it of course!

Yeah, its a big ass valve. Lets try that with something for reference..

On the left is your typical 6V battery, and on the right is a Cleveland 248/278/278A exhaust valve.

After tracking the part number stamped on it, it turns out this is for an Enterprise DSRV-16 engine. These were introduced in the 1950’s, and made up until the early 1980’s (by then it was a DeLaval Enterprise). Its a 17″ x 21″ 4 stroke engine running at 405RPM making 9,000HP with quad turbos. These were pretty common as standby generators at Nuclear plants, as well as ship propulsion engines.

From the 1957 Diesel Engine Catalog

If your ever in Southwest Michigan, be sure to stop by Rescued Metals. Its different every week, and they come up some some really cool stuff! Be sure to check out their Facebook page below.


https://www.facebook.com/RescuedMetals/

Oh, and the valve makes a fantastic paper towel holder in my office!

Fairbanks Morse Engine List

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Unfortunately due to travel, I have not had nearly the time I would like lately to sit down and type up another article. This week however, I will provide some interesting reading. This is a Fairbanks Morse bulletin from 1958, that details every diesel engine model they ever produced. The one downside, is that it only covers the model, and not the cylinder arrangements offered for each one.

F-M was another one of those companies that seemed to have a new “model of the week” engine. Its impressive that quite a number of these engines survived, both as museum pieces, as well as a fair bit still in service today, unlike Winton and many other early diesels.

Keep in mind, this is a 1958 list, and does not cover the later engines that popped up when Colt took over, such as the 38A20, or any of the Pielstick engines.

Click each photo for a larger version.