Wickman Diesel

Wichmann Diesel was started by a local blacksmith on the island of Bømlo in Norway who decided to manufacture his own engine for his boat.The engine proved to be a success and local people soon gathered around the workshop to have the blacksmith make them one.The company expanded and was renamed Haldorsen & Sønner Motorfrabrikk. Later this was changed to Wichmann Diesel. The engines earned a reputation for being easy to operate and maintain and also to be reliable. One engineer once stated that Wichmann were built for morons, but built by geniuses.

The factory also produced CP-Propellers and gears. In the 1970s they made their first electronic propeller control unit. Their AX engine was reliable, but was ready to be replaced by the WX in the 1980s.Both the AX and WX were like their ancestors, the AC two-strokes. The LO that is a Norwegian labour union supported them financially to develop the new model range, but they pulled the plug after some disagreements and all of a sudden the renowned manufacturer that was the biggest engine factory in Norway was at the edge of bankruptcy. The model range was developed to both straight engines and to v-engines, and the number of cylinders varied all the way to v-12.The factory changed hands and went bankrupt once more before being sold to Wärtsilä NSD, who stopped all development and the new WX16V a 16cyl v engine that was ready for being built.

Wärtsilä built the Wichmann under the name Wärtsilä Wichmann but stopped producing it when it proved to be more successful than their own engines and the last engine was built in 1997.

Eidesvik Shipping offered to buy the design since Wärtsilä themselves had no interest in building it, but got no as an answer.

Today the once proud factory which was building the best medium speed diesels in the world is only doing maintenance, repair and upgrade on their motors, but propellers and gear are still built. It is today named Wartsila Norway.

On the site is a museum where you can see a variety of engine models and among them you can see the first one built in 1903.