Usines Franco-Russes
Société Anonyme des Usines Franco-Russes (Anciens Etablissements Baird) of Petrograd (Saint Petersburg)
Established in Paris in 1881.
1887 Description and drawings of the engines of the Russian ironclad Nicolas I, constructed on a plan patented by M. Paul de Buit, manager of the Usines Franco-Russes, St. Petersburg, and M. P. Sabathier, engineer-in-chief to the same company. 'This plan consists in so arranging one (or it may be two) of the cylinders with its valves, connecting-rod, and crankshaft, that it is readily disconnected from the others, and thrown out of action. The object of the provision is that the size of engine in a ship of war may be adjusted to the requirements of the moment. At the speed at which naval vessels cruise they only employ about one-sixth of their maximum power, and consequently their engines work during the greater part of their career under conditions which are most unfavourable to economy. ... The last coupling on the crankshaft is not made with bolts, but with a driving stud, either with or without a drag link. ...'[1]