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Escher Wyss & Cie., also known as Escher Wyss AG, was a
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
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Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
industrial company with a focus on engineering and turbine construction. Its headquarters were in the
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
quarter of
Escher Wyss, which takes its name from the company.
History
The company was founded, as Escher Wyss & Cie., in 1805 by
Hans Caspar Escher and
Salomon von Wyss. After having originally started the company as a
textile spinning business, the two expanded their enterprise to include a machine shop that manufactured textile machinery, water wheels, water turbines, power transmission equipment, and starting in 1835, ships, including boilers and steam engines.
After 1860, under the direction of Hans Zoelly, the company concentrated on hydraulic systems, steam engines and cooling systems. Between 1904 and 1929 steam turbines were produced for thermal power plants, ships and locomotives. The company also manufactured the hydraulic systems of hydroelectric plants. During WWII, the company was a supplier for the German war effort, manufacturing turbines for Norsk Hydro, and supplying flamethrowers. Additionally, the company was an integral part of researching and developing turbines to produce heavy water for the creation of nuclear weapons for the Nazis. The company remained in existence until it was taken over in 1969 by
Sulzer AG
Sulzer Ltd. is a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm, founded by Salomon Sulzer-Bernet in 1775 and established as Sulzer Brothers Ltd. (Gebrüder Sulzer) in 1834 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Today it is a publicly traded company w ...
,
[ now inside of the group ]Andritz AG
Andritz AG is an international technology group, offering plants, equipment, systems and services for various industries. The group's headquarters are in Graz, Austria. The group gets its name from the district of Andritz in which it is located ...
.
Notable products
* A design of naphtha launch
A naphtha launch, sometimes called a "vapor launch", was a small motor launch, powered by a naphtha engine. They were a particularly American design, brought into being by a local law that made it impractical to use a steam launch for private us ...
es (1890)
* The twin Lake Zürich
__NOTOC__
Lake Zurich ( Swiss German/Alemannic: ''Zürisee''; German: ''Zürichsee''; rm, Lai da Turitg) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or ''Zürichsee'' can be used to ...
paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...
s ''Stadt Zürich'' (1909) and ''Stadt Rapperswil'' (1914) built for the ''Dampfbootgesellschaft'', both listed in the as ''Class A'' objects.
* Two Lake Lucerne
__NOTOC__
Lake Lucerne (german: Vierwaldstättersee, literally "Lake of the four forested settlements" (in English usually translated as ''forest cantons''), french: lac des Quatre-Cantons, it, lago dei Quattro Cantoni) is a lake in central ...
paddle steamers ''Unterwalden'' and ''Gallia'' (1902/1913)
* Propellers for the Hispano Aviación HA-1112
The Hispano Aviación HA-1109 and HA-1112 are licence-built versions of the Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 developed in Spain during and after World War II.
Design and development
In 1942, the Spanish government arranged a manufacturing licence wit ...
See also
* Barsanti-Matteucci engine
Replica in Milan
The Barsanti-Matteucci engine was an internal combustion engine using the free-piston principle in an atmospheric two cycle engine. In late 1851 or early 1852 Eugenio Barsanti, a professor of mathematics, and Felice Matteucci, an ...
References
Engineering companies of Switzerland
Companies based in Zürich
Manufacturing companies established in 1805
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1969
1969 disestablishments in Switzerland
Swiss companies established in 1805
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