Combustion Engineering

In the mid-1950s, C-E also expanded its operations into oil and gas exploration, production, refining, and petrochemicals with the acquisition of the Lummus Company located in Bloomfield, New Jersey.

C-E was one of the major suppliers of boilers for US Navy steam-powered warships, including Liberty ships during World War II.

C-E pioneered the tangential firing process used in modern large pulverized coal utility boilers.

Also located at the Windsor site was the prototype marine nuclear propulsion training facility known as S1C, which was designed and constructed by C-E adjacent to its main campus.

A joint venture was announced in April 1968, involving the Combustion Engineering Company, Houston Natural Gas, and Ranchers Exploration & Development Corporation.

[9] C-E was generally credited with a superior design, evidenced by the fact that the megawatt yield of its nuclear reactors was typically about 10% higher than that of comparable Westinghouse plants.

The basis for this increase in efficiency was a computer-based system called the Core Operating Limit Supervisory System (COLSS) for design, and the Core Protection Calculator (CPC) for real-time control room operation,[10] which leveraged almost 300 in-core neutron detectors and a patented algorithm to allow higher power densities.

In the 1960s, and continuing through 1988, C-E acquired a number of companies, many not directly related to the core utility steam supply business.

A number of companies were acquired or developed and added to the division including, American Pole Structures, C-E Controls, the P.F.

C-E had a large presence in Canada, including fossil and nuclear steam supply manufacturing facilities.

C-E maintained offices as well as a number of manufacturing sites on a worldwide basis, including the UK, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Belgium, Mexico and France.

George Kimmel was named president and Chief Operating Officer in 1988 and remained in that position until the sale of the company to ABB in 1990.

[11][12] In 1990 C-E became a wholly owned subsidiary of ABB (Asea Brown Boveri), a Swiss-Swedish multinational conglomerate based in Zürich and one of the largest electrical engineering companies in the world.

ABB was able to resolve asbestos claims filed against Combustion Engineering and Lummus Global in 2006 with a billion-plus dollar settlement agreement.