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The Early Years of Outboard Motors: Evinrude Motors I’m fascinated with boats and motors and find it interesting how some companies have come and gone, and what they left in their wake. As an outboard motor collector I thought it might be interesting to let readers know where some of the major brands came from, starting with Evinrude Motor Company. The story starts on a farm in Christiana, Norway with the birth of Ole Evinrude on April 19, 1877. Ole was the son of Andrew and Beatta Evinrude who were farmers and very practical people, who eventually raised eleven children. In 1882 the family left Norway and moved to a farm in Cambridge, Wisconsin. Ole worked on the farm with his father and had a reputation for his cleverness with tools, saving his father and neighboring farmers many trips to the blacksmith shop. During the winter he worked as a tobacco sorter, saving his money for a subscription to a mechanical science magazine. His father thought this was foolish, when more “practical” things could have been purchased with the money. Ole had a passion for the water and was secretly building a sailboat. Parts were built and then hidden from his father in hopes that one day he could put them all together. Unfortunately his father found pieces of the boat and decided it would be better use of the wood if they were used as firewood. Ole was saddened by this but decided he would start over, hiding boat parts all over the farm. Eventually when his father was away for several days Ole collected all the parts and constructed his boat. When Andrew returned he saw the 18 foot sailboat in the lake. What happened next surprised Ole. His father realized how determined his son was and how good a job was done. At that point Andrew realized that his son was not going to be a farmer, and praised him for his fine job building the boat. Ole gave boat rides for 25 cents per passenger. For a sixteen year old that was pretty good money. Soon Ole moved to Madison and became an apprentice machinist. He still had his magazine subscription and read about the “new” engines being run on gasoline. As time went on Ole worked in different jobs, always related to the machine industry. In 1900, at age 23 he landed a job in Milwaukee as a pattern maker. At this time Ole lived in a boarding house owned by a Mrs. Doyle. He would work on his plans for a gas engine long into the night. One night Mrs. Doyle was having a party when suddenly there was a loud noise followed by the lights going out. She found Ole in her basement just as happy as he could be. He had hooked up his engine to the illuminating gas pipe for fuel. Ole exclaimed, “it works” as his engine shook the house, robbing the gas needed to fuel the lights. Mrs. Doyle did not share his excitement and asked him to find a room elsewhere. Ole moved to a home next to Bess Carey, the future Mrs. Evinrude. She asked him all about his contraption and was told of the horseless carriage he was building. It was the talk of the town. Soon a partnership was formed and a new company called Clemick & Evinrude was created, making small engines for horseless carriages. The company only lasted six months but it was during this time that Ole and Bess became engaged. Legend has it that during one of their Sunday picnic dates at the local lake, Bess expressed an interest in a nice cool bowl of ice cream. Ole, in an attempt to accommodate her, rowed some distance, bought the ice cream and rowed back. The ice cream melted of course. It was during this trip that Ole thought it would be a great idea to have a portable motor that could be clamped to a boat that would eliminate the need for oars. This is a nice story but is in fact a legend. In a later product catalog Ole would tell of the actual events leading up to his boat motor invention. After four attempts at a horseless carriage business Ole called it quits and opened up a pattern making shop. The business was steady and Ole and Bess were married on November 21, 1906. On September 27, 1907 their only child, Ralph was born. The couple worked hard at the business and it took its toll on their health. Winter was difficult for them but the warmer spring months allowed them to get back to normal. One evening as Ole was working his usual long day, Bess came to the shop to ask her husband to come home. She found him working on a strange looking contraption. He explained that this was a motor that will run a rowboat. She thought it looked more like a coffee grinder. Ole and Bess’s brother rented a boat on the Kinnikinnic River, clamped the motor on and took off. The motor was a success and materials were ordered to make twenty five motors. One Sunday morning an Evinrude employee borrowed the motor for a day on the lake. Upon his return he had orders for ten motors at $62 each. That prompted Bess to write an advertisement for the local paper. “DON’T ROW! THROW THE OARS AWAY! USE AN EVINRUDE MOTOR.” That ad sold the remaining fifteen motors. In 1910 a national advertising campaign was launched causing a flood of orders for Evinrude Detachable Row Boat Motors, as they were called. Ole and Bess didn’t expect this big a response and in an effort to accommodate the orders took on a partner. Chris Meyer, president of Meyer Tug Boat Lines, put up $5000 becoming half owner of the new Evinrude Detachable Row Boat Motor Co. Ole used the skills he had learned on the farm making the most of the $5000 investment. With Bess’s business skills and Ole’s mechanical skills coupled with long hours they turned the money into finished motors. Full production was underway in June of 1910 with about 1000 motors sold that year. 1911 saw the sale of some 2090 motors with 100 employees. An export company heard about the motors and wanted some for it’s Scandinavian sales. In a short time orders were pouring in with motors going to Norway and Denmark. This helped the business stay busy, even during the normally slow winter months. 1912 saw the sale of 4650 motors and in 1913 9412 motors sold. During this time both Ole and Bess were working very hard. Ole was as dependent on Bess as Bess was to Ole. Her health declined during this time and they decided to sell their half of the business to Chris Meyer for $137,500 with the agreement that Ole would stay out of the outboard motor business for five years. The Evinrudes decided to explore America. Ole couldn’t stay away from his drafting table, continuing to design a new motor. The Evinrude Motor Company continued making and selling the original Evinrude Row Boat Motor without many changes. A magneto was offered, replacing the battery ignition and a commercial unit was produced with 3 ½ horsepower. By 1917 sales dropped to 5534 motors. In 1919 Ole’s non- compete clause was up and he had finished the design of a new motor using lightweight aluminum rather than the heavier iron and bronze. Ole took his design to Chris Meyer, out of loyalty to his former partner. Meyer saw no reason to tool up for a new design and thought aluminum would never hold up. Being the entrepreneur that he was Ole decided to form a new company and in 1920 formed a new company, Elto Outboard Motor Company. Bess came up with the name Elto from Evinrude Light Twin Outboard. With about $35,000 left from the money they had saved they began the new firm. 1921 saw the first Elto roll off the assembly line. It wasn’t easy starting from scratch again especially with more outboard motor manufacturers out there now. They sold 1051 motors the first year and 3549 the second. During this time Chris Meyer hadn’t seen other companies as a threat but with the addition of Elto and a new company, Johnson he decided to sell in 1922. Elto continued to grow adding new motors to the line, as did Johnson. Evinrude Motors changed hands several times before being bought by Briggs & Stratton. Yes the same Briggs & Stratton that powers your lawn mower. Stephen Briggs would be the one responsible for getting Evinrude back on track. Although Elto was doing just fine on its own, Stephen Briggs convinced Ole to form a merger among Evinrude, Elto and Lockwood Motor Co. Lockwood had been in business since 1914 building outboard motors. The merger was completed in February of 1929. Ole Evinrude was once again president of the company he started back in 1910. The new company was called Outboard Motors Corporation (OMC). Later Johnson would be added to the OMC family. Ole and Stephen managed to survive the depression with their newly formed company going on to become a leader in the industry. Sadly, Bess Evinrude died in 1933. Ole, who had been a devoted husband mourned his wife’s death until he died a little over a year later. He was only 57 years old. Ole and Bess had a relationship that complemented each other with each adding to the business and marriage what the other lacked. Within a month after the death of his father Ralph Evinrude was appointed president at the age of 27. Ole Evinrude did not invent the outboard motor. He was the first to mass-produce a dependable motor while forming a company that would last where others died off. Evinrude Row Boat Motors are still around and run well. I have two. One recently acquired and the other a good runner. It’s interesting to see the twists and turns a company takes in its quest to succeed and Evinrude is no exception. Much of the information in this article was taken from the book Evinrude Johnson and The Legend of OMC. If you want more detail on the history of OMC I highly recommend this book. |
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