Nordberg Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of steam engines, large diesel engines, pumps, hoists and compressors for the mining and quarry industries located in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

History

The company was founded by Bruno V. Nordberg and Jacob Elias Friend in 1886 in Milwaukee. Nordberg had previously been working at steam engine and sawmill maker E. P. Allis & Co. Friend became the company's president, and later his son, Robert E. Friend, was president and chief executive officer. In 1917, Bruno Nordberg designed and built the world's largest steam hoist bought by

Quincy Mining Company The Quincy Mine is an extensive set of copper mines located near Hancock, Michigan. The mine was owned by the Quincy Mining Company and operated between 1846 and 1945, although some activities continued through the 1970s. The Quincy Mine was know ...

for their copper mine near

Hancock, Michigan Hancock is a city in Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is across the Keweenaw Waterway from the city of Houghton on the Keweenaw Peninsula. The population was 4,634 at the 2010 census. The Weather Channel has consistently rank ...

. It is a cross compound steam hoist and was installed and up and running in November 1920 and used for 11 years. It is currently available for guided historical tours. By 1926, they were manufacturing

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s, steam engines (

poppet In folk magic and witchcraft, a poppet (also known as poppit, moppet, mommet or pippy) is a doll made to represent a person, for casting spells on that person or to aid that person through magic. They are occasionally found lodged in chimneys ...

- uniflow Corliss),

air compressor An air compressor is a pneumatic device that converts power (using an electric motor, diesel or gasoline engine, etc.) into potential energy stored in pressurized air (i.e., compressed air). By one of several methods, an air compressor forces m ...

s, gas compressors, mine hoists (steam, air, and electric) and

blowing engine A blowing engine is a large stationary steam engine or internal combustion engine directly coupled to air pumping cylinders. They deliver a very large quantity of air at a pressure lower than an air compressor, but greater than a centrifugal fan. ...

s. In 1944, they designed and built the largest diesel engine that has ever been built in the United States. It was built for a

Victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were sli ...

built for the

United States Maritime Commission The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...

. In 1946, they bought the Busch-Sulzer Diesel Engine Company which was formed in 1911 by

Adolphus Busch Adolphus Busch (10 July 1839 – 10 October 1913) was the German-born co-founder of Anheuser-Busch with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser. He introduced numerous innovations, building the success of the company in the late 19th and early ...

Anheuser-Busch Brewery Anheuser-Busch Brewery is a brewery complex in St. Louis, Missouri. The brewery, opened in 1852 by German immigrant Adolphus Busch, is designated as a National Historic Landmark District. The Anheuser-Busch Brewery public tours offer hundreds of ...

. Busch had acquired the first American rights to the diesel engine in 1898. Nordberg was acquired by Rex ChainBelt Inc (formerly

Chain Belt Company Chain Belt Company was an agricultural equipment manufacturer in the US. It produced chain belts specifically to replace leather-based belts, which were used inside engine-powered agricultural equipment at the time. History The company was esta ...

) in 1970, and was to become a division of Rex. By that time, Nordberg had been manufacturing mineral and rock crushing equipment, screens, grinding mills, and hoists, heavy duty diesel and gas turbines, railroad maintenance machinery, hydraulic valves presses and other components. Nordberg was acquired by Finland's Rauma Corporation in 1989, which was later merged into

Metso Metso Oyj was a Finnish industrial machinery company focusing on providing technology and services for mining, aggregates, and oil and gas, recycling, pulp and paper and other process industries. On 30 June 2020, Metso's partial demerger and ...

in 1999. Metso closed Nordberg's former Milwaukee factory in 2004.

List of Ships

Nordberg engines were installed on several auxiliary

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

shipsindividual ship pages on navsource.org * (1 × TSM, 1,700shp) * (1 × TSM6 1,750shp) * (2 × TSM219, 6,000shp total) * (6,000shp) * 46 of 65 C1-A ** all C1-A built by Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc. had diesel propulsion and used 2 2,000hp 6 cylinder Nordberg engines ** the 19 other C1-A were built by Pusey & Jones with steam turbines

References

External links

Illustrations and photographs of Nordberg factory and diesel engines from sales brochures and private sources
{{Milwaukee Based Companies Engine manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1886 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2004 1886 establishments in Wisconsin 2004 disestablishments in Wisconsin Defunct manufacturing companies based in Milwaukee de:Nordberg Radial Engines