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The Compound Steam Engine and Productivity Changes in the German Merchant Marine Fleet, 1871–1887

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

Ramon Knauerhase
Ramon Knauerhase
Affiliation:
The University of Connecticut
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Extract

The compound steam engine was one of the majorthe substitution of steam for sail in ocean transportation. This factors inarticle is an inquiry into the productivity effects of the adoption and diffusion of this innovation in the German merchant marine fleet between 1871 and 1887. A number of relevant questions may be raised: What was the change in total industry productivity? How much of the total productivity change resulted from the diffusion of the compound engine? How much resulted from improvement of the engine itself during this period and how much from improvements in sailing ship technology? Answers to these questions may provide fresh insight into the controversial issues of the ascendancy of the sailing ship in ocean transportation and the contribution of changes in sailing ship productivity to the decline of ocean freight rates after 1870.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , September 1968 , pp. 390 - 403
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1968

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References

1 See the discussions of this subject by Graham, Gerald S., “The Ascendancy of the Sailing Ship 1850–85,” Economic History Review, 2d ser., Vol. IX (1956-1957), 74 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar;and North, Douglass, “Ocean Freight Rates and Economic Development 1750–1913,” THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY, XVIII (12. 1958), 537 ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 For a symbolic statement of the output measure see Appendix 1.

3 Amt, Kaiserliche Statistische, Statistisches Jahrbuch fur das Deutsche Reich (Berlin: 1880), I (1880), p. 112Google Scholar.

4 It is probably more precise to call John Elder the reinventor of this engine. The honor of first invention must go to Gerald Maurits Roentgen, who designed a compound marine steam engine using high-pressure boilers in 1829. As a manifestation of personal accomplishment Roentgen's achievement must be ranked above that of John Elder. Roentgen's invention was completely original and was perfected long before the correct principles of the steam engine had been established. Elder, on the other hand, could draw on the advances in theoretical and empirical knowledge made between 1830 and 1850. For the economic historian, however, Roentgen's invention is not as important as Elder's. Roentgen's engines saw only limited service on European rivers, while the diffusion of the compound steam engine in ocean transportation dates from Elder's patents of 1853 and 1856.

5 The statistics used in the following analysis are published in Amt, Kaiserliche Sta-tistische, Statistisches Jahrbuch fiir das Deutsche Reich (Berlin: Putkammer and Muhlbrecht). I-X (1880-1889), andGoogle ScholarStatistik fiir das Deutsche Reich, O.S., XIII (1875); XVIII (1876); and XXVI (1878). The author will supply the basic statistics upon requestGoogle Scholar.

6 For a symbolic statement of the method and its rationale, see Appendix 2.

7 This assumption is justified, because the HAPAG and the Lloyd were the innovators in the industry and it is known that both of these lines did not begin to use the engines until 1872.

8 This conclusion is based on the high dividends paid by the HAPAG and Lloyd between 1865 and 1873.

9 A comparison of the dividends paid by two passenger and mail steamship com panies and two freight carriers shows this clearly. In 1875, 1876, and 1877 the passenger carriers paid no dividends, while the freight carriers paid an average dividend of 6 percent over the same period, and from 1878 to 1880 the dividends paid by the freight lines exceeded those of the passenger carriers by a substantial margin.

10 Butin, Ludwig, Bremen und Amerika (Bremen: Carl Schiineman, 1953), p. 297Google Scholar.

11 “Verschiedenes,” Hansa, XXV (1888), 119Google Scholar.

12 , North, “Ocean Freight Rates,” 549Google Scholar.

13 North, Douglass C., Growth and Welfare in the American Past (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1966), p. 110Google Scholar.

14 Idem.

15 Idem.

16 Haarman, H. J., Die ökonomische Bedeutung der Technik in der Seeschiffahrt (Leipzig: Werner Klinkhardt, 1908), p. 57Google Scholar.