The Elto Outboard Motor Company (Elto) was the second major outboard motor business founded by Ole Evinrude. Elto outboard engines were produced in the U.S. from 1921 to 1941.
An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorized method of propelling small watercraft. As well as providing propulsion, outboards provide steering control, as they are designed to pivot over their mountings and thus control the direction of thrust. The skeg also acts as a rudder when the engine is not running. Unlike inboard motors, outboard motors can be easily removed for storage or repairs.
Ole Evinrude, born Ole Andreassen Aaslundeie was a Norwegian-American entrepreneur, known for the invention of the first outboard motor with practical commercial application.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
History
Ole sold his half of the original Evinrude Motor Company to his partner Chris Meyer in 1913 with the condition that Evinrude stay out of the outboard motor business for five years.
Evinrude Outboard Motors is a North American company that builds a major brand of outboard motors for boats. Founded by Ole Evinrude in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1907, it was formerly owned by the publicly traded Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) since 1935, but OMC filed for bankruptcy in 2000. It is now working as a subsidiary of Canadian Muntinational Bombardier Recreational Products.
Ole Evinrude continued designing motors during this time and developed a new engine that made extensive use of lightweight aluminum. His new twin cylinder design weighed one third less than the Evinrude Motor Co.'s best selling (single cylinder) model and produced 50% more power.
Five years later, in 1920 Ole and his wife Bess decided to re-enter the outboard business with their new design, but still could not use the "Evinrude" name. Instead, they called their new Milwaukee venture the Elto Outboard Motor Co. ELTO was Bess's effort to create a distinctive, one-word brand name like "Kodak." It derived from the first letters of "Evinrude Light Twin Outboard."
Milwaukee is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin and the fifth-largest city in the Midwestern United States. The seat of the eponymous county, it is on Lake Michigan's western shore. Ranked by its estimated 2014 population, Milwaukee was the 31st largest city in the United States. The city's estimated population in 2017 was 595,351. Milwaukee is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee metropolitan area which had a population of 2,043,904 in the 2014 census estimate. It is the second-most densely populated metropolitan area in the Midwest, surpassed only by Chicago. Milwaukee is considered a Gamma global city as categorized by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network with a regional GDP of over $105 billion.
By 1925, Elto's sales topped those of previous industry leader Evinrude Motor Co.
In 1928 the ELTO company introduced America's first four cylindertwo-cycle outboard motor, the Super Elto Quad, which was capable of speeds over 35 mph. Though still outsold by Johnson, Elto was the industry's most profitable company that year.
A two-strokeengine is a type of internal combustion engine which completes a power cycle with two strokes of the piston during only one crankshaft revolution. This is in contrast to a "four-stroke engine", which requires four strokes of the piston to complete a power cycle during two crankshaft revolutions. In a two-stroke engine, the end of the combustion stroke and the beginning of the compression stroke happen simultaneously, with the intake and exhaust functions occurring at the same time.
Meanwhile, the Evinrude Motor Co. floundered, and in 1929, Stephen Foster Briggs, co-founder of its new owner, Briggs & Stratton Corporation; proposed a merger between the Evinrude Motor Co., the Elto Outboard Motor Co., and the Lockwood Motor Co. of Jackson, Michigan. Eager to regain his namesake company, Evinrude agreed to the deal and became president of the new Outboard Motors Corporation (OMC), headquartered in Milwaukee.
Stephen Foster Briggs was an American engineer, co-founder of the Briggs & Stratton manufacturing company, and founder of Outboard Marine Corporation.
Briggs & Stratton is an American Fortune 1000 manufacturer of gasoline engines with headquarters in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
Initially, each of the three companies marketed a complete line of motors, but as the Great Depression eroded sales, a new strategy was called for. "Evinrude" became the premium brand, while "Elto" was positioned as the company's economy line. This streamlining helped the company survive the worst years of the Depression, but with the acquisition of the Johnson Motors Co. in 1935 - one year after Ole Evinrude's death - Elto became something of an orphan within the OMC family.
The 1.1-hp Evinrude Scout, later renamed the Ranger, was introduced in 1938. The ½-hp Evinrude Mate came along less than a year later with a retail price of $34.50.
Elto countered in 1938 with the 1.1-hp Pal, selling for $37.50 and the Elto Cub in 1939.
World War II ended production of civilian models, and the prosperous post-war economy demanded larger, faster, more feature-laden motors. OMC neglected to resume the brand immediately after the war, but did make a brief reintroduction of the name in 1949 based on a pair of economy engines made by OMC's Gale Products.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
Products
ELTO outboards were made in a variety of sizes from the Cub, Pal and Ace, to the Ruddertwin and Lightwin.
Elto Cub 0.5 HP - 8 lbs
Elto Pal 0.9 HP - 1.1 HP
Elto Ace 1.4 to 1.8 HP
Produced for only two years, the Elto Cub is an interesting sidelight to the venerable history of the outboard motor industry. Weighing only 8.5 pounds, this .5 horsepower motor was advertised as the "world's lightest outboard" when introduced in 1939. The Elto Cub filled a small niche in the outboard market of the late 1930s. Its price of $29.50 appealed to Depression-stretched pocketbooks. The Cub was suitable only for the lightest duty use because of its light weight.
The Cub was discontinued in 1941 and the "Elto" brand name was not far behind.
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