Propulsion Systems, Inc., Port Washington, L.I., N.Y., has announced that it has joined with Philadelphia Gear Corporation, King of Prussia, Pa., to create one of the largest and most complete marine propulsion systems capabilities in the United States.
The action follows a successful two-year trial program during which Philadelphia Gear Corp., in addition to producing marine gear drives of its own design, worked with Propulsion Systems in the manufacture of a variety of marine products including controllable-pitch propellers, bow thrusters, rotary vane steering gears, and control systems.
The announcement also included the names of a new board of directors and company officers for Propulsion Systems, Inc. Board members named are R. C. Ball, president of Philadelphia Gear Corp.; R. S. Dobbs, vice-president of Philadelphia Gear Corp.; W. T. Brown, vice-president/manufacturing of Philadelphia Gear Corp.; P. K. Wennberg and O. Wennberg of Propulsion Systems, Inc., and A. M. Liaaen of A. M. Liaaen, A.S., Aalesund, Norway.
New officers named by Propulsion Systems are P. K. Wennberg, president; U. Hornsyld, vice-president; E. Foster, treasurer, and B. Daiker, secretary.
The association combines Philadelphia Gear's resources and 75 years of experience in the manufacture of power transmission equipment with Propulsion System's 13 years of technical experience in marine propulsion systems design, engineering and service. Further, Liaaen's 32 years of controllable-pitch propeller design and manufacturing experience in Europe is now available to United States consumers.
Advanced computer propeller design programming, developed by Liaaen in Europe, will be integrated with Philadelphia Gear's computer facilities. The result will be a 100 percent domestic design, engineering, manufacturing, and testing capability covering complete marine propulsion and steering systems from propeller blades to steering gears including all stress, torsional, and reliability analyses for propellers, shafting, gears, gear boxes, bearings - all marine propulsion components.
Philadelphia Gear's extensive manufacturing facilities at King of Prussia, Pa., will be used to produce the majority of the marine propulsion components. The facilities include a completely equipped pattern shop; one of the largest capacities for precision cutting, heat treating, and gear grinding in the United States, and a new facility for fabricating gear-drive housings. Major testing facilities, including a spin test bed with two large diesel power-plants, are also located at the King of Prussia facility.
The service organizations of both corporations will be coordinated and expanded to provide coverage of all marine builders and operators.