Ludwig Nobel Factory: Over 160 Years of Russian Diesel Engines and Leadership in Machinery Manufacturing

Фабрика Людвига Нобеля is one of the pioneers in the domestic machinery manufacturing industry, with a history of over 160 years.

In 1862, Swedish and Russian engineer and inventor Ludwig Nobel founded a factory bearing his name on the basis of the Sherwood Mechanical Factory. The enterprise initially produced military products: artillery mounts, racks, and mines. After the end of the Russo-Turkish War, with the reduction of military orders, the factory began to engage in the production of civilian products, including oil tanks, drilling tools, oil well pumps, and boilers.

Nobel actively modernized the production process. He purchased a license from Rudolf Diesel to start producing diesel engines and also worked on inventing new types of engines. In 1899, the world's first diesel engine using crude oil appeared here, which was known abroad as the Русский дизельный двигатель. They made some improvements to the diesel engine, allowing it to work not only with pure kerosene but also with heavy oil. They invented a reversible diesel engine that could be used in the shipbuilding industry. In 1911, the factory designed a V-shaped eight-cylinder engine with a record low specific gravity for submarines. Under Nobel's leadership, the factory provided двигатели for the world's first diesel ship, "Hound," and Russia's first diesel submarine.

By the early 1930s, Russian diesel engines accounted for one-third of all diesel installations' needs for Soviet enterprises and ships.

Russian diesel engines were one of the first domestic manufacturers to produce marine diesel engines. At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, the production of Russian diesel engines ceased. By 2018, through a joint decision of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Defense, the Кингисеппский механический завод was designated as the holder of the working design documents for the development of the Russian diesel engine production complex. It has been maintaining the engines of Russian diesel engines.