Fairbanks-Morse Model 37 Marine Diesel Engines brochure

By The Red Hook WaterStories team

"Model 37-E F-M Diesel engines are of the vertical, two-cycle, mechanical-injection type and operate on the full Diesel principle. In their design and manufacture are embodied all of the requirements for low overall operating attention. The utmost simplicity of design results from the manner in which the two-cycle and mechanical-injection principles are employed. All parts are accessible and the number of moving parts is reduced to a minimum. "

The engine of the MARY A WHALEN is not exactly the same. Ours is a Fairbanks Morse 1938 37E12 6 cylinder direct reversing serial # 808553 450hp, 300rpm. Developed in the 1920s, the engine design was tried and true when MARY was built in 1938 (originally christened as the S.T. Kiddoo.) The engine was common to ships of similar age and size to MARY. They were also used in electrical power plants, particularly in the midwest.

The brochure provides a concise overview of the parts of the engine and how it works in a way understandable to a layperson, not just a marine engineer.

Some of the diagarams are included here as images. The full copy of the brochure is also linked as a pdf below.

In August 2020, from very helpful people at the power plant in Kennett, Missouri, PortSide acquired a vintage engine to fix the one in the MARY. That one is a model 22F12 from 1942. The 12 denotes the diamater of the cylinder (12") which is the same as in our 37E12.

[Thanks to Paul Strubeck for scanning the original in his private collection and sharing with us.]

Follow this link for a curated compendium of MARY A. WHALEN stories