Route 2, Box 164, Cato, Wisconsin 54206.
The following story is reprinted from the Feb. 1, 1986 issue of
the Manitowoc-Two Rivers, Wisconsin Herald-Times-Reporter with
permission.
A 30,000 pound, 11? foot long Model E6 Kahlenberg diesel engine
was placed inside the new maritime museum being constructed on
Maritime Drive on Thursday. The engine was donated to the museum in
1985 by the Kahlenberg Brothers Company in Two Rivers, and was used
in the river towboat Sandra Marie. The engine will be the
centerpiece of the marine technology exhibit in the new museum.
This type of heavy duty diesel engine was manufactured by
Kahlenberg Brothers in the 1950s and early 1960s. Three Model E 6
engines are still in service.
Two of the engines are outfitted in the Ranger III, which
operates between Houghton, Michigan, and Isle Royale in Lake
Superior for the National Park Service. The other Kahlenberg E 6
engine is outfitted in the former tug Green Bay, which once
operated in the Manitowoc area. The tug was modernized and
repowered with the Kahlenberg Engine at Manitowoc Shipbuilding in
1957-58.
William and Otto Kahlenberg started a steam engine business in
Two Rivers in 1895. Three years later the Kahlenberg brothers
became pioneer builders of marine internal combustion engines. In
the early 1900s they brought into the partnership their brother,
John L. Kahlenberg. Kahlenberg engines contributed immensely to the
development of the commercial fishing industry on the Great Lakes,
and were outfitted in fishing boats, tugboats, small freighters,
and pleasure boats. They were marketed around the world and became
famous for their dependability and durability.
Kahlenberg Model E engines were the first self-sustaining
turbo-charged, two-cycle diesel engines in their size category.
This meant that the engine started and operated without the
assistance of a scavenge pump, blower, or any other device to
provide crankcase pressure without which no two-cycle engine can
run. The scavenging and charging air was supplied by an exhaust
turbine blower. This design made the Model E 6 engine more
efficient and powerful.
Kahlenberg Brothers built its last engine in 1964. At the
present time it constructs stainless steel propellers, airhorns,
and other marine equipment such as automatic fog signals and signal
timers.