Caird and Company

Caird & Company was a Scottish shipbuilding and engineering firm based in Greenock. The company was established in 1828 by John Caird when he received an order to re-engine Clyde paddle-tugs.

John's relative James Tennant Caird joined the company in 1831, and after leaving to work for Randolph, Elder & Co in Glasgow, rejoined the family business for good in 1838.

A year after the death of Robert Caird, the company was sold to Harland & Wolff Ltd in 1916 for £432,493. The firm continued trading as a separate enterprise, with Arthur and Patrick Caird on the board, until 1922. The Arthur Street engine works was sold to John G. Kincaid & Company in 1919.

In the early years Caird & Co were responsible for fitting (or re-fitting) steam engines in ships. An example of this is the Glasgow fitted with a side-lever engine by Caird & Co in 1828 for G & J Burns. This being an engine running on only 5psi steam pressure, as was common at the time (the steam condenser created a vacuum so the effective pressure acting on the piston was the difference between the boiler pressure and the condenser vacuum). Also in 1828 Caird & Co re-engined the paddle steamer Industry (built in 1814 by William Fyfe of Fairlie), replacing the original single cylinder engine rated at 10 hp with a Caird single cylinder engine rated at 14 hp.

In 1845 details and drawings of Caird engines fitted in four West India Mail-Packets were published, these being the "Clyde", "Tay", "Tweed" and "Teviot". These were also side-lever engines, with two cylinders of diameter of 74.5in and stroke of 90in, driving 30 ft paddle-wheels, running at 15rpm. These mail packets were operated by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. Collated records of ships built on the Clyde suggest that Caird contracted out the building of the wooden hulls for these mail packets.

Other ships fitted with engines by Caird include :

Following this Caird fitted engines to a significant number of screw-steamers built by other companies (i.e. propellor driven) particularly those built by Denny of Dumbarton up until 1851, and other ship builders until 1863.

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