William Cramp & Sons Ships & Engine Building Co.

Zum Vergrößern Bild anklicken

William Cramp & Sons Ships & Engine Building Co.: Portrait William Cramp

William Cramp & Sons Ships & Engine Building Co.: Portrait Charles H. Cramp

Allgemeines

Name	William Cramp & Sons Ships & Engine Building Co.
Ortssitz	Philadelphia (Penns.)
Straße	Palmer Street
Art des Unternehmens	Schiffs- und Maschinenbauanstalt
Anmerkungen	1868: in der Richmond Street oberhalb Otis, erstreckt sich bis zum Delaware River; ferner Werft in der Penn Street. [Hexamer]: Beach Street und Norris Street bzw. Plum Street (Nordost-Ecke; Hafen am Delaware River); auch im Carré Beach / East Norris / Clairborn / Ball Street. 1910: Beach und Ball Streets. 1897: "Cramp's Ship Yard"; 32 acres Grundfläche, 15 acres bebaut, 1.543 Fuß Uferlinie am Delaware River; Derrik-Kran "Atlas" mit 130 t Last und 36 Feet Ausladung; 6.000 Beschäftigte; bezeichnet sich als die größte und vollständigste Schiffs- und Maschinenbauwerkstätte der westlichen Hemisphäre. 1900 in die Norris Street verlegt. Baute auch die großen Schlachtschiffe der nordamerikanischen Marine. Auch als "... Machine Building Co." bezeichnet.
Quellenangaben	[Matschoß: Entw Dampfmaschine (1908) I, 254] [Lloyd's Schiffsreg.] [Blue Book of Am. Shipping (1897) 399, Anz.] [Pennsylvania and Cent. Exp. (1878) 76] [Hist. Am. Mfg 3 (1868) 65] [Philadelphia (1891) 237]
Hinweise	[Hexamer General Surveys, Plates 771+772+1685+1686+2140-2141+2503-2504+2688-2689 (1874+1882+1887+1891+1893)] [Hendricks' Commercial Register of the United States 18 (1909) 407] [Philadelphia and popular Philadelphians (1891) 237]: Portrait William Cramp; [238]: Portrait Charles H. Cramp

Unternehmensgeschichte

Zeit	Ereignis
1830	William Cramp gründet in Philadelphia die Schiffs - und Maschinenbauanstalt (später: William Cramp & Sons.)
1860	Der Bau von hölzernen Schiffen geht zu Ende
1871	Eintragung mit einem Kapital von 5.000.000, wovon 3.940.000 ausgegeben wurden
1872	Cramp baut für das Dampfschiff "George W. Clyde" die erste Zweikurbel-Verbundmaschine in den USA
1874	Umbau der Maschinenwerkstatt
1918	Übernahme der "De La Vergne Engine Co."

Produkte

Produkt	ab	Bem.	bis	Bem.	Kommentar
Bergbaumaschinen	1897	[Blue Book of Am. Shipping (1897) 399]	1897	[Blue Book of Am. Shipping (1897) 399]
Dampfkessel	1897	[Blue Book of Am. Shipping (1897) 399]	1897	[Blue Book of Am. Shipping (1897) 399]	Wasserrohrkessel (Niklausse, Mosher, Yarrow)
Dampfschiffe	1830	Beginn (Gründung)	1897	[Blue Book of Am. Shipping (1897) 399]
Kanonen	1897	[Blue Book of Am. Shipping (1897) 399]	1897	[Blue Book of Am. Shipping (1897) 399]	Rapid guns and ammunition
Kriegsschiffe	1897	[Blue Book of Am. Shipping (1897) 399]	1897	[Blue Book of Am. Shipping (1897) 399]	Battle ships, cruisers
Schiffsdampfmaschinen	1830	Beginn (Gründung)	1910	[Lloyd's Register of Shipping 2 (1910/11)]	jeder Art
Schiffskessel	1910	[Lloyd's Register of Shipping 2 (1910/11)]	1910	[Lloyd's Register of Shipping 2 (1910/11)]

Betriebene Dampfmaschinen

Bezeichnung	Bauzeit	Hersteller
Dampfmaschine	vor 1874	unbekannt
Dampfmaschine	vor 1874	unbekannt
Dampfmaschine	vor 1874	unbekannt
Dampfmaschinen	vor 1887	unbekannt

Maschinelle Ausstattung

Zeit	Objekt	Anz.	Betriebsteil	Hersteller	Kennwert	Wert	[...]	Beschreibung	Verwendung
1874	Dampfkessel	3		unbekannt
1882	Dampfkessel	3		unbekannt
1887	Dampfkessel	3		unbekannt
1891	Dampfpumpe	1		Geo. F. Blake Manufacturing Co.
1891	Dampfmaschinen	3		unbekannt
1891	Dampfpumpen	2		Worthington Pump and Machinery Corporation
1893	Dampfkessel	5		unbekannt
1893	Dampfmaschinen	13		unbekannt

Personal

Zeit	gesamt	Arbeiter	Angest.	Lehrl.	männl.	weibl.	Kommentar
1874	900						800 Männer, 100 Jungen; bei vollem Betrieb: 1400 Arbeiter)
1882	1350						bei Vollbeschäftigung: 1500 Arbeiter)
1887	1350						bei Vollbeschäftigung 1800 Arbeiter)
1891	2000						ca. 300 Jungen, Rest Männer / auch 3000 Mitarb. genannt (s.d.)
1891	3000						über 3000: 300 Schiffbauer, 500 Nieter, 300 Monteure, 80 Takler, 450 Maschinenschlosser, 700 Schmiede, 65 Zeichner, 33 Angestellte; wöchentl. Gehalt über $30.000 / auch 2000 Mitarb. genannt (s.d.)
1893	4160						(ca. 3700 Männer und 460 Jungen)

Allgemeines

ZEIT	1891
THEMA	Beschreibung
TEXT	William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company have the most complete, extensive and famous establishment of its kind in the United States. Its plant comprises not only the Main Works at Beach and Ball streets, having a front on the Delaware river of 1.000 feet with a depth of 700 feet, and the adjacent Port Richmond Iron Works, recently purchased from I. P. Morris & Co., but a marine railway and one of the largest dry docks in the country, located at the foot of Palmer street, having a basin that permits the entrance of vessels 450 feet long with a draft of 20 feet, and centrifugal pumps capable of discharging 120.000 gallons a minute and emptving the basin in forty-five minutes. To these may be added fifty-seven acres of land recently acquired near the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, where in the near future it is probable ship-building and engine works with immense docks will be erected that will be the peer in extent of any in the world. The present works, it is needless to add, are fitted up with all the tools and machines that are needed for the speedy execution of work, many of them being the invention of various members of the company, or modifications made by them, and as a consequence are unique with this establishment. Over 3.000 hands are employed by the company, including 300 shipwrights, 500 riveters, 300 joiners, 80 riggers, 450 machinists, 700 blacksmiths and iron workers, 65 draughtsmen, 33 clerks, and the weekly pay roll aggregates over 30.000. These works, to which no adequate justice can be done within our circumscribed space, are the outgrowth of a small establishment founded in 1830 by William Cramp, with a capital saved from his earnings as a jouruevman ship carpenter. For thirty years they were devoted to the construction and repair of wooden vessels; but about 1860 the construction of wooden craft was discontinued, and the attention of the firm was given entirely to iron vessels, in which it has made a reputation familiar to every maritime country in the world. Until recently they were employed almost exclusively in the construction of merchant vessels. The list of well-known craft of this class built at these works is entirely too long for insertion here, but we may mention the side wheel steamers, "Cetus", " Persus", "Pegasus" and "Taurus", running between New York and Coney Island; the steamers "Mariposa" and "Alameda", at present running between San Francisco and Sydney, Australia; the "Korean" for the Wilder Steamship Company of Honolulu; the "San Pedro" and "San Pablo", for the Pacific trade between Panama and the Golden Gate; the twin screw vertical triple expansion transport "Monmouth", for the Central Railroad of New Jersey, which has a speed of 18,5 knots; the vertical triple expansion steamers "Iroquois" and "Algonquin", for Clyde's Line between New York and Charleston; the "El Mar" (3531 tons), and the "El Sol" (4300 tons), running between New York and New Orleans; the Red "D" line steamships between New York and Venezuela; the "Henry M. Whitney", for the Metropolitan Steamship Company, between New York and Boston, and the "Essex", for the Merchants' and Miners' Transportation Company, running between Baltimore and Boston. To these may be added the steam yachts "Corsair", for J. Picrpont Morgan, of New York; the "Atalanta", for Jay Gould, Esq., and the "Peerless," built for their own account to test a new principle in marine engineering. When the war of the Rebellion broke out the Government Navy Yards were wholly inadequate to supply the vessels demanded by the situation, and the Government officials called upon the Cramps for help. They responded promptly, patriotically and efficiently, and in a short time turned out the monitor "Yazoo", the steam frigate "Chattanooga", of 3.500 tons, and above all the "New Ironsides", which rendered such efficient service before Forts Fisher, Wagner, Sumter and Moultrie. This was the first broad-side iron-clad or armored man-of-war ever launched in the United States, and was the wonder of naval architects and of the great naval powers. To the Cramps also belongs the credit of having built the only passenger steamships plying between Europe and America that carry the American flag. The history of the American Steamship Line is well known, but it is not so well known that though the price of American iron had risen thirty per cent, before the "Pennsylvania", "Ohio", " Indiana" and "Illinois" were completed, there was no suggestion of default, and the ships were delivered on time and in thorough accord with the terms of the contract. These vessels, with a tonnage of 3.125 each, have, during the last twenty years, carried thousands of passengers with perfect safety and comfort, and hundreds of thousands of tons of valuable freight at an average speed, winter and summer, equal to any of their class built by foreign firms. In 1872 the Cramps constructed for the steamship "George W. Clyde" the first two crank compound engine in America, and its advantages as an economizer of fuel were so manifest that it at once dominated the construction of simple engines, and all other American ship-builders were compelled to follow Cramps' lead. For a period of fourteen years the development of the compound engine was steadily pushed to its climax of air-tight fire room, forced draught and the highest boiler pressure consistent with economy in double expansion until the limit was reached in the construction of Jay Gould's celebrated steam yacht, the "Atalanta". Then the firm took a step forward by testing in the construction of the steam yacht "Peerless," built for their own account, the practicability of advancing from two to three expansions of working steam. The experiment was so satisfactory - as the "Peerless" developed a speed of 17,25 knots an hour, making her the fastest yacht of her time and class - that no room was left for argument as to the efficiency of the new system, and though a few merchant ships were afterwards built by them with ordinary compound engines they were duplicates of earlier vessels, and none but triple expansion engines are now designed or recommended by the company. In 1876 the Russian officials who were visiting the Centennial Exhibition were so impressed by what they saw at the Cramps' yard that they persuaded the Czar's government to send the corvette "Craysser" there to be overhauled. Subsequently, when the war cloud hung over the Orient, and Britain sent her fleet to Constantinople to take care of the "sick man of Turkey", Russia had three more vessels built at the Cramps' yard - the "Europa", "Asia" and the famous "Zabiaca", which won the admiration of the Muscovite Navy by her graceful lines and unusual speed of 15,5 knots an hour. The achievements of the Cramps in demonstrating the existence of a plant capable of turning out promptly domestic war ships equal to the best of foreign construction, had no doubt its influence upon Congress in inducing the appropriation of large sums of money for a new navy, and when the bill was passed and the call was made for the new ships they promptly responded. Messrs. Cramp & Sons have already completed and launched the double turreted monitor "Terror", the cruiser "Yorktown", the protected cruisers "Philadelphia", "Baltimore" and "Newark" and the pneumatic dynamite gun cruiser "Vesuvius". These comprise nearly half of the new navy afloat and represent a tonnage of 15.245, a total horse power of 32.000, and a cost at contract price of 4.728.000. In all of these vessels the contract requirements were exceeded, the builders receiving more than 300.000 in premiums for excess in speed or power, which is the best possible proof of the high class of work performed by the company. They have now on the stocks five of the largest American men-of-war ever built - the battle ships "Indiana" and "Massachusetts", the "New York" or Cruiser No. 2, Cruiser No. 12, nicknamed at the yard the "Pirate", and Cruiser No. 13, a duplicate of No. 12. These will have an aggregate tonnage of 43.696, a horse power of 76.000, and cost the Government without premiums 14.440.000. The battle ships "Indiana" and "Massachusetts" will be 348 feet long on water line, 69,25 feet in breadth, with a displacement of 10.298 tons, and a guaranteed speed of 15 knots. The engines are twin screw of the vertical, triple expansion, direct acting, inverted cylinder type, placed in water tight compartments separated by bulkheads. There are four double ended and two single ended auxiliary steel boilers of the horizontal return fire-tube type. The battery will consist of four 13-inch B. L. R., eight 8-inch B. L. R., four 6-inch B. L. R., twenty 6-pounders, and four Gatlings. They are designed for great fighting power united with adequate protection, able to take the sea in all weathers and with draught suited to shallow waters. The contract price of each of these battle ships is 3.020.000. The "New York", or armored cruiser, No. 2, which will be completed on or before January 1, 1893, will be a four decked vessel, 380 feet 6,5 inches long, of 8150 tons, 16.000 horse-power, and will have boilers of the extraordinary diameter of 15.9 feet requiring a shell plate thickness of 1.32 inches, and weighing 70 tons each when ready for installation on board ship. She will be able to carry enough coal for a continuous voyage of 13,000 miles without reloading, and is built to clear the sea of an enemy's commerce and any commerce destroyer he may send out. It is confidently believed the "New York" will be the fastest and most powerful protected cruiser afloat, and for general purposes of service in war will have a wider field of usefulness than any other ship designed for our navy. The contract price is 2.985.000. Protected cruisers, Nos. 12 and 13, duplicates of each other, are designed to be the fastest cruisers in the navy. They are unique in many respects, especially in their machinery, and are the first vessels of their size to which three screws have been applied. Their length will be 412 feet, breadth 58 feet, tonnage, 7.475; horse-power, 21.000; with a guaranteed speed of 21 knots. Each vessel will have three sets of triple expansion engines, driving three screws, the third screw placed between and below the other two, and the engines will be arranged in three separate water-tight compartments, each complete in itself, so that if two arc disabled the third can still propel the ship. The battery will consist of one 8-inch B. L. R., two 6-inch B. L. R., eight 4-inch B. L. R., two 6 pounders, and four 1 pounders. The contract price of No. 12 is 2.725.000, and of No. 13 is 2.690.000. Since 1871 the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Co. has been incorporated, and has now an authorized capital of {5,000,000, of which {3,940,000 has been issued. The company, as at present organized, includes the names of no less than ten descendants of the eminent founder of the establishment. The President and directing mind of the company is Mr. Charles H. Cramp; Mr. Henry W. Cramp is the Secretary and Treasurer; Mr. Edwin S. Cramp, the Superintending Engineer, and Mr. Lewis Nixon, late Naval Constructor United States Navy, is the naval architect. Mr. Charles H. Cramp is a practical shipbuilder, having served an apprenticeship with his uncle, John Byerly, before he entered his father's employ. All his younger brothers are also practical shipwrights. The organization of the establishment is complete, and each of the prominent members has the position for which his tastes and qualifications peculiarly fit him. The force of workmen includes many men of long experience in the business, and no yard in the world has more intelligent engineers for conducting the work. Ascher Lawsou remarked in his article on "Ship-building on the Delaware," written for Harper's Weekly: "It is a great industrial establishment, founded by an American mechanic, maintained by his descendants in the same broad spirit of economy, enterprise, and integrity, and of which Philadelphia and the whole country can well be proud."
QUELLE	[Philadelphia and popular Philadelphians (1891) 237]

ZEIT	1868
THEMA	Firmenbeschreibung
TEXT	Two in number, are among the largest in this country, and equipped with all the implements and facilities necessary for building both iron and wooden vessels. The iron ship yard, located on Richmond street above Otis, extends from the former street to the Delaware river, and has an area of six hundred thousand square feet, with a river front of four hundred feet. The machine shop, forty by three hundred feet, contains some tools of unusual size, among which we «right instance the bending rolls, weighing over fifteen tons, and which will bend sheets of iron an inch thick and fourteen feet long, to a curve whose radius is three feet. This department also includes a large smith shop, and a furnace for bending angle iron frames without a blast. This furnace is thirty feet long, and diffuses equal heat throughout its whole length, thus obviating the objections of ordinary furnaces in which the iron is liable to be burnt at one extremity, while at the opposite it is Comparatively cool. As an instance of the facility possessed by this firm for rapidly executing work, it may be stated that an iron side wheel tow-boat, one hundred and sixty-five feet long, twenty-five feet beam in hull, was begun on the second day of January, and on February 6th, the plating was all riveted, and the vessel, costing sixty thousand dollars, ready for use on the 1st of March. About one hundred and fifty men are employed in the yard for constructing iron vessels. The other ship yard of this firm is located on Penn street, near the site of Penn's Treaty ground, and has a front on the river of three hundred feet, and a depth of eight hundred feet. A marine railway, capable of hauling up vessels of fifteen hundred tons, is in course of construction at this place, and when completed will cost about fifty thousand dollars. Here some of the largest and finest vessels in the merchant service were constructed. The "Bridgewater", of 1.525 tons, and which itus said was the largest merchant vessel ever constructed at this port, was built by this firm. Her length was two hundred and twenty feet, width of beam fifty feet, and depth of hold thirty feet. This vessel was launched fall rigged, a feat that, it is believed, was never before accomplished with a vessel of equal tonnage. This firm also constructed ten steamers, each one hundred and eighty-five feet long, for the Cuban trade, and which were found to be so superior for the purpose for which they were designed, that they entirely superseded side wheel vessels. Within the last four years this firm constructed a number of fine vessels for the United States Government. The "Ironsides", famous in the annals of the late Rebellion, was built by them at a cost of nine hundred thousand dollars. Her dimensions are two hundred and thirty-five feet in length, fifty-eight feet beam, and twenty-seven feet hold, and tonnage 3.250 tons. The "Chattanooga", one of four, of peculiar construction ordered,by the Navy Department, was built by this firm at a cost of a million of dollars. Her dimensions are three hundred and twenty-five feet in length, forty-six feet beam, and depth twenty-two feet three inches. The light draught monitor "Yazoo" was built here, in accordance with designs furnished by the Navy Department, but which, when the vessel was ready to be launched, were found to be so defective, that it involved the necessity of rebuilding. The light draught monitor "Tunxis" was also raised twenty-two inches, and rebuilt by this firm. Besides these may be mentioned the transports "Stanton", "Foote", "Welles", and "Porter", and the double ender, "Wyalusing", and others, costing in the aggregate five millions of dollars. During this period many vessels were also constructed for private parties, amounting in the aggregate to about fifty vessels, of various sizes, with a tonnage of twenty-five thousand tons. The firm is composed of William Cramp and his five sons, Charles, W. M. Cramp, S. H. Cramp, J. C. Cramp, Theo. Cramp. The senior partner has been identified with the pursuit for more than forty years, and advanced, by regular gradations, from a journeyman shipwright to a master builder. He constructed the first propeller tug-boat ever built in the United States. This was the "Sampson", which was used as a gunboat, during the late Rebellion, by the South.
QUELLE	[Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 65]