SHIPYARDS and marine engineering works were traditionally very noisy places.

John G Kincaid, the former Greenock producer of engines for ships, had a surprise for visitors to the East Hamilton Street works one evening in 1962.

The occasion was to witness the running tests of a new type of diesel engine, designated K351, and see round the company’s various departments.

Not expected when an engine was being tested, it was said the voices of visitors could be heard, even if somewhat muffled.

The K351 was possibly the quietest engine Kincaid’s had produced.

Kincaid’s opened their doors to all employees, their families and friends. More than 2,500 men, women and children turned up.

The K351 had been undergoing 14 days of test-bed operation and was described as running as sweetly as a sewing machine.

It was the first Scottish-built example of a new Burmeister & Wain two-stroke poppet-valve engine which produced 8,570 brake horsepower.

Aside from the relatively quiet running, the design enabled the engine to be considerably smaller in size and with fewer working parts than previous engines developing the same power.

A novel feature was a semi-automated control panel to locate and record even the slightest fault by means of lights and audible alarms. Kincaid’s designed and built the panel within four weeks of receiving instructions it was required.

Appropriately, the Greenock-built engine would be going into a 13,000 ton cargo ship under construction by Lithgows in Port Glasgow.

Kincaid’s had orders for five of the new engines plus another five of a different design.

In the same week as the open evening, around 40 representatives of shipping companies and more than 20 from shipbuilding and engineering firms visited the East Hamilton Street works to inspect the new engine.