The 2000hp V10 Busch-Sulzer Diesel Engine.
(Busch-Sulzer Bros. Diesel Engine Company, Public domain, via the W. Lenheim Collection)
BUSCH-SULZER BROS. DIESEL ENGINE COMPANY
The Busch-Sulzer Bros. Diesel Engine Company was founded by Adolphus Busch of the Anheuser-Busch brewing company in 1911 as a joint venture with Sulzer Brothers of Switzerland. The company manufactured diesel engines until 1946.
In 1897, Adolphus Busch acquired rights to build diesel engines in the United States, with Rudolph Diesel as a consultant. The first companies resulting from this were the Diesel Motor Company (1898–1902) of New York City and the American Diesel Engine Company (1902–1911), which relocated to St. Louis, Missouri in 1908 and was succeeded by Busch-Sulzer. Although Busch acquired the rights to build Sulzer designs with the formation of Busch-Sulzer, the American joint venture preferred its own designs. The first submarines with Busch-Sulzer engines were the United States L-class submarines L-5 through L-8, designed by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company and launched 1916–17. Busch-Sulzer continued to produce engines for the US Navy and other customers through World War II, after which its assets were sold to the Nordberg Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Then-Lieutenant (and future Admiral) Chester W. Nimitz studied Diesel engines in Germany for the United States Navy in 1913. Busch-Sulzer tried to hire him, but he turned them down.
In the 1930s, some Busch-Sulzer engines were installed in some GE diesel-electric locomotives.
Busch-Sulzer Bros. Diesel Engine Company Overview
Industry: Diesel engines
Founded: 1911, predecessors from 1898
Founder: Adolphus Busch
Disposition: Dissolved late 1940s
Key personel: Adolphus Busch, Rudolph Diesel
Products: Naval and commercial diesel engines
