Nordberg Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of steam engines, large diesel engines, pumps, hoists and compressors for the mining and quarry industries located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[1]
History
Nordberg's distinctive design of diesel pancake engine, used for pumping
The company was founded by Bruno V. Nordberg and Jacob Elias Friend in 1886 in Milwaukee. Nordberg had previously been working at steam engine and sawmill maker E. P. Allis & Co.[2] Friend became the company's president,[3] and later his son, Robert E. Friend, was president and chief executive officer.[4]
In 1917, Bruno Nordberg was contracted by Quincy Mining Company to design and build the world's largest steam hoist for their copper mine near Hancock, Michigan. The hoist is a cross compound steam hoist. It was installed in the Quincy Mine No. 2 Shaft Hoist House, began operations in November 1920, and ran until the mine closed in 1931.[citation needed] It is currently available for guided historical tours.
In 1946, they bought the Busch-Sulzer Diesel Engine Company which was formed in 1911 by Adolphus Busch of Anheuser-Busch Brewery. Busch had acquired the first American rights to the diesel engine in 1898.[8]
Nordberg was acquired by Rex ChainBelt Inc (formerly Chain Belt Company) in 1970, and was to become a division of Rex.[9] By that time, Nordberg had been manufacturing mineral and rock crushing equipment, screens, grinding mills, and hoists, heavy duty diesel and gas turbines, railroad maintenance machinery, hydraulic valves presses and other components.[9]
Nordberg was acquired by Finland's Rauma Corporation in 1989, which was later merged into Metso in 1999.[10] Metso closed Nordberg's former Milwaukee factory in 2004.[11]
