Lobnitz and Co
Lobnitz and Co of Renfrew-made dredgers and steam engines for marine use
Maker of marine engines. [1]
1857 Henry C. Lobnitz originally joined the Renfrew yard of James Henderson
1866 The business was continued by James Henderson and Henry Lobnitz under the same name, Henderson, Coulborn and Co
1874 The Subscribers, Trustees and Executors of the late James M'Lintock Henderson, Shipbuilder, Renfrew, (William Henderson, Charles Henderson, James Dunn and Henry Lobnitz) ceased, in terms of the Contract of Copartnery, to have any interest in the Firm of HENDERSON, COULBORN, & COMPANY, as and from 17th July 1874.[2]
By 1884 Lobnitz was the owner of the yard. Lobnitz was Danish and used his Danish connections to generate trade for his yard. The Lobnitz yard built a wide variety of ships but was most well known for its dredging fleet made for Weetman Pearson
1888 Sub-aqueous rock dredger for the Suez canal.
1889 See 1889 Shipbuilding Statistics for detail of the tonnage produced.
1894 Solid Rock Dredger 'Majestic'. Full article and illustration.
1895 Lobnitz and Company Limited, Slip Dock, Renfrew, was incorporated "to acquire and develop the several businesses now carried on by Lobnitz and Co, engineers and shipbuilders, Renfrew. Capital, £160,000, divided into 7500 preference shares of £10 each and 8500 ordinary shares of £10 each".[3]
WWI The yard made ships for the US Government and many small gunboats and warships for the British Military during the First World War. After the War, the yard made large suction dredgers and sludge carriers.
1920 Issued booklet entitled 'The Romance of Dredging'.
1924 200-ton steam dragline for work on the irrigation canals for the irrigation scheme in the Gezira, a tract of land enclosed between the Blue Nile and the White Nile in the Sudan. The machine was designed by the builders and supplied to Messrs. S. Pearson and Son, the contractors for the Gezira scheme. 'This dragline excavator has a bucket of 5 cubic yards. capacity and is mounted on four trucks of the equalising type, so that at times when the wheels are on an uneven surface the frame still remains horizontal. Each truck has four wheels and is provided with ball and socket centre bearings, so that they can easily accommodate themselves to travelling on curves. The rails over which the excavator is run are lifted by the machine and reset in front with little expenditure of either time or labour, so that progress is made as rapid as the other circumstances permit. The boom is connected directly to the ends of the two main girders of the revolving frame by forged steel attachments, and has a length of 125 ft. Normally it is set at an angle to the horizontal of about 25 deg., but it can be set at increased angles up to 40 deg. ..... Steam is generated in two loco-type boilers. The duty is divided between two units to facilitate transport and handling in erection, as well to facilitate the distribution of the load uniformly over the whole machine. Feed water and fuel can be raised while the excavator is at work. The feed pump is a steam-driven unit, and the coal hoist is operated by the same medium. As the feed is lifted into a tank much of its suspended mud is deposited there. In the design of the complete plant the necessity for using muddy feed water has been well borne in mind, and arrangements have been made to eliminate mud and to make the removal of any matter deposited in the boiler comparatively easy. .... Electric lighting is installed, .....' [4]
1952 Engine for Floating Crane 'Titan' for Mersey Docks and Harbour Board.
1957 The Simons yard was taken over by the Weir Group who then went on to buy out the Lobnitz yard in 1959.
1959 Simons-Lobnitz was formed by the merger of two Scottish dredger building yards William Simons and Co and Lobnitz and Co.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Stationary Steam Engines of Great Britain by George Watkins. Vol 10
- ↑ Edinburgh Gazette 5 Feb 1875
- ↑ The Scotsman 30 November 1895
- ↑ Engineering 1924/05/16
- The Engineer of 2nd March 1888 p197
- The Engineer of 21st September 1894 p272
- The Engineer of 9th Jan 1920 p53
- National Records of Scotland BT2/3044
- L. A. Ritchie, The Shipbuilding Industry: A Guide to Historical Records (1992)
- John Shields, Clyde Built: A history of Shipbuilding on the River Clyde (1949)
- Stationary Steam Engines of Great Britain by George Watkins. Vol 10
- Fred M. Walker, Song of the Clyde: A History of Clyde Shipbuilding (2001)