# MAN acquires Pielstick



## Jim S (Jan 21, 2006)

Apologies if this is not correct forum.
From the November 2006 "Marine Engineers Review" a stop press item :-
"MAN Diesel SE, Augsburg have bought out MTU Friedrichshafen's 33.4% share of the French medium speed diesel engine manufacturer S.E.M.T Pielstick. The company is now wholly owned by MAN Diesel."

Interesting acquisition, MAN has a strong hold on the medium speed market (as well as the MAN - B&W being dominant in the slow speed crosshead engine market). Is this just to increase their presence in the medium speed market or is it just to take control of previous competition. It seems to me that Pielstick does not seem to be the force that it used to be.


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## Derek Roger (Feb 19, 2005)

I personally liked the Pielstick which Brocklebank used on the Mahsud and Maihar as well as a number of Moss tankers built in Eriksburgs Sweden . 
The only real problem on Mahsud and Maihar was the early failures of exhaust valves partiuclarily when using high Vanadium content bunkers ; which was to a large degree solved . 
The tankers however were a bit more troublesome as they had Napier Turbo Blowers which were abortions and had to be changed out and stripped down after very few service hours ( they became fouled easily and quickly and starved the engine of air with all the associated problems ). 
Mahsud and Maihar had Brown Boveri and although I sailed from 4th Eng to Chief for a number of trips deep sea ; I never had ocassion to strip one . 
The Pielstick had a very good specific fuel consumption for its time ( 1968 ) of; if my memory serves me right ;148 to 154 gm/BHP/Hr using Bunker C as a fuel.


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## Jim S (Jan 21, 2006)

*Pielstick Engines*

On reflection I have been a bit unfair to the Pielstick engine.
Although MAN and Wartsila seem to be the current medium speed engines of choice for commercial fleets, Pielstick seems to have done very well in the naval market. Ships such as HMS Ocean, the RFA Fort Victoria Class, and USN San Antonia Class are all equipped with Pielstick engines as are a number of French warships. (RFA Bay class have Wartsila)
In an about turn on policy eight cruise ships operated by Royal Carribbean are to have existing gas turbines machinery replaced by Wartsila diesel-electric machinery to reduce fuel costs.


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## Derek Roger (Feb 19, 2005)

Jim ;
Do you know what happened to Sulzer ?? The RD 680 and 760 were popular with Brocks Mahout / Markor and the Cunard " Mickey Mouse Boats .
The timing of the rotary exhaust valves after change out / overhaul replacement of blades was a bit of a challenge to the uninitiated . 
Had one third engineer set the timing by turning the engine on the turning gear ahead and astern as it suited him !!! ( The timing has to be set turning ahead all the time to keep the revesing servo locked in the Ahead mode )

When we started up it sounded like a bag of hammers !! 
Yours truly had to retime the whole lot again from scratch which took about a day much to the consternation of the old man and chief ! and delight of the mates as cargo was finished so they went ashore on a jaunt.
The same engineer incidentaly was ;later found responsible for having installed the scraper rings upside down on all units he was involved in pulling on our various Piestick powered vessels ( Brocks and Moss Tankers )
The lub oil consuption had gone "loopy" on some of the vessels and no one knew why ?? I was unfortunate in solving the issue and spent the next 3 trips following vessels he had been on and figuring out which units he had be involved with and re pulling the lot . 
Lub oil consumption fell to normal and head office were again happy campers.


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## Pat Thompson (Jan 25, 2006)

*Pielstick*

Simple
Engineering
Made
Technical

But I'm sure you knew that already

Aye

Pat Thompson


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## Bearsie (Nov 11, 2006)

Derek Roger said:


> Jim ;
> Do you know what happened to Sulzer ?? The RD 680 and 760 were popular with Brocks Mahout / Markor and the Cunard " Mickey Mouse Boats .


Last I knew the Sulzer Motor division at least became part of Wärtsila
a few years ago


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## Jim S (Jan 21, 2006)

*Wartsila - Sulzer*

Firstly I liked the definition of S.E.M.T (Pielstick) as Simple Engineering Made Technical - I hadn't heard that one before.
Regarding what happened to Sulzer. - From what I can determine in 1990 Sulzer of Switzerland formed a new company called New Sulzer Diesel (NSD).
Sulzer sold the majority of the shares in the new company retaining only a small interest. In 1997 NSD was absorbed by Wartsila creating Wartsila-NSD.
Until fairly recently the company seemed to be quite happy marketing their 4stroke medium speed engines as Warsila, and the 2 stroke slow speed engines as Sulzer. In fact the engine range uses Sulzer type nomenclature such as RT and RTA. Of late the Sulzer name seems to have been phased out which is a shame considering its history in the development of the diesel engine. (To their credit the MAN-B&W combine have retained their historic names). The name Sulzer lives on in Switzerland as an engineering company of four divisions manufacturing among other things, pumps, turbines and sophisticated metal coatings. 
In the development of the RD type of engine that Derek refers to,- in 1968 the RND tpe was introduced the main improvement being the absence of the rotary exhaust valve. It is interesting that the two main slow speed engine manufacturers MAN-B&W and Wartsila are now very similar, both now having poppet type exhaust valves as in the original B&W as opposed to the ported exhausts of the older MAN and Sulzer engines. Except that the exhaust valve actuation is now done hydraulically and in advanced types by both manufacturers the camshaft has been dispensed with. - All very clever.


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## Derek Roger (Feb 19, 2005)

I still liked the RD Engines which were very good ! 
Not too many scavege fires ( only had 1 in three trips deep sea which is a lot less than many engines can boast !)
Thet were easy to work on and had some very nice tools for the time ( Didnt need big hammers etc )
Derek


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