Sabb Motor

Not to be confused with Saab AB.

Sabb Motor is a Norwegian maker of small marine diesel engines, mostly single-cylinder or twin-cylinder units. The firm was established as Damsgaard Motorfabrikk by two brothers, Alf and Håkon Søyland in 1925.^[1] The firm started building engines to meet the demand of fishermen who wanted simple, robust and reliable power for their boats. (The word 'Sabb' means toughness and reliability).

A Sabb engine in the Norwegian Tractor and Motor Museum [nn] at Stokke

History

The brothers' cottage industry began by creating a 3HP hot-bulb engine. This was followed by a larger 7HP version which tended to suffer broken crankshafts, but the firm was able to solve the problem and re-launch their engines under the name Ny-Sabb (New Sabb). By 1975, Sabb Motor was producing 3,200 engines a year between 8 and 30 bhp. Facing market competition, the firm concentrated on providing 30bhp engines for ship’s lifeboats, a decision which increased worldwide demand.^[2] The UK's distributor of Sabb engines is Sleeman & Hawken Ltd. More recently, Sabb have established a link with Mitsubishi.

In 2006 Sabb Motor AS was bought by Frydenbø Industri and renamed Frydenbø Sabb Motor AS.^[3]

Sabb engines

Sabb engines are rugged and simple; for example, some have "splash lubrication" which requires no oil pump nor filter. (Splash lubrication is an antique system whereby "spades" on the big-end caps dip into the oil sump and splash the lubricant upwards; clearly it is a system that can work only on very low-revving engines, otherwise the sump oil would become a frothy mousse).^[4]

Sabb engines include Types H, G, GA, 2H, 2G, & 2J.^[5]

External links

• Narrow boat "Bullfinch" with a running Sabb 2G engine