The Kelvin Engine

In 1904 Walter Bergius founded the Bergius Car and Engine Company to Manufacture motor cars but  by 1908 his company had sold only about 15 cars.  The car was not a success due to competition from such famous names as Rover and Daimler. However part of his plan had been successful as an engine designed and built, and given the name Kelvin after the river which flows through the part of Glasgow where the factory was located.

At the suggestion of his brother Willie, as an experiment, an engine was fitted into a 23ft rowing gig and they found that they had produced a fine motor  launch. Walter soon realised the enormous impact there could be in the west coast fishing fleet by converting their vessels from sail to power.

Production of the car was abandoned in favour of the development of marine engines and launches. This proved to be much more of a success and in 1908 the company's name was changed to the Bergius Launch and Engine Company and in 1910 moved to the address which would become synonymous with the company, 254 Dobbies Loan Glasgow, which was then adjacent to the Forth and Clyde Canal.

Kelvin engines rapidly became very popular with fishermen and a steady stream of fishing boats arrived at James Lister's boatyard in Dunoon for conversion from sail to power.  Lister requested an initial payment of £35 at the time of conversion and the balance of £35 was due to be paid during the next 12 months, as and when fish catches improved and the fishermen could afford to make payment.

SPARES SERVICE

Realising the importance of keeping fishing boats at sea, Walter Bergius developed an efficient spare parts service so that an order received in the first postal delivery would be dispatched later that same day.  His engines were designed on the basis of accessibility and ease of maintenance so that repairs could be carried out in situ by relatively unskilled people.

The Society is most fortunate that one of its members, John Watt, actually served his apprenticeship with Kelvins and is able to keep our Kelvin launch in first class condition.

  MOTOR LAUNCHES

A large part of the Bergius company's business was in the marketing of Bergius designed wooden launches fitted with Kelvin engines.  His boat designs were extremely detailed and he quoted the precise specification of every component in detail, right down  to the exact sizes of the individual fasteners required in their construction.

Most of the launches were built by Scottish boatyards but some were manufactured in Norway.  The majority built here were exported for use as dispatch launches, beach boats, naval pinnaces, passenger launches and for other such purposes in the colonies of the British Empire

Soon after World War Two, Bergius discontinued the sale of launches and passed his designs to Willie Miller of James  N Miller and Sons of St Monans Fife who continued to build the range under the name Miller-Kelvin until the 1960s.

Walter Bergius died in 1949 and his company was sold. It now remains as Kelvin Diesels plc in Glasgow where marine engines and ancillary equipment continues to be manufactured to this day.

  The Society's Kelvin Engine

A restored launch needs an engine as originally specified and since these engines had not been manufactured since the 1950s, finding one presented us with a major problem.   By a stroke of luck, when we contacted Kelvin Diesels to obtain permission to use the original drawings of the launch during her restoration, their reply mentioned that some unused model E2 engines had been discovered in a warehouse in Kuwait and that one of them could be obtained for our project.

Their offer was duly accepted and a brand new, forty year old engine was installed in our fully restored Kelvin launch.

Kelvin-Ricardo E2 Petrol/Paraffin Engine:

Two Cylinder 1042cc Four Stroke 7.5BHP Poppet Valves