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Briggs And Stratton

Briggs & Stratton Animal

Briggs & Stratton Corporation is an American manufacturer of small engines with headquarters in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Engine production averages 10 million units per year as of April 2015. The company reports that it has thirteen large facilities in the U.S. and eight more in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, and the Netherlands. The company's products are sold in over 100 countries across the globe.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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History

In 1908, inventor Stephen Foster Briggs and investor Harold M. Stratton started an informal partnership to capitalize on the growing automobile industry. Eventually Briggs and Stratton settled on manufacturing automotive components and small gasoline engines. In 1919, Briggs & Stratton purchased the manufacturing rights for a small, simple two-seat vehicle with a gasoline engine called the Smith Flyer from the A.O. Smith Company in Milwaukee. The Flyer had a small gasoline engine mounted on a fifth wheel, or motor wheel. Briggs & Stratton made engine improvements that raised the horsepower and renamed the vehicle the Briggs & Stratton Flyer. The Guinness Book of Records lists the Flyer as the most inexpensive car of all time, selling at US$125 to US$150 (equivalent to $2020 to $2430 in 2021). In 1925 they sold the rights to the Flyer to Automotive Electric Services Corporation. Briggs & Stratton kept the motor that had been the heart of the motor wheel and adapted it to power other applications such as bicycles, reel lawn mowers and small equipment such as washing machines. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1928. During World War II, Briggs & Stratton produced generators for the war effort. Some pre-war engines were made with aluminum, which helped the company develop its expertise in using this material. This development, along with the post-war growth of 1950s suburbs (and lawns), helped secure Briggs & Stratton's successful growth throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Stephen Briggs went on to purchase Evinrude and Johnson Outboards and start the Outboard Marine Corporation. Frederick P. Stratton Sr. (the son of Harold Stratton) served as Chairman of Briggs & Stratton until his death in 1962 (Harold also died that year). Frederick P. Stratton Jr. se

Acquisitions, agreements and joint ventures

Farymann Diesel GmbH (1979–1984) – Based in Lampertheim (near Mannheim) in Germany, this was the first foreign acquisition Briggs & Stratton had ever made and was a poor fit with the company's acknowledged expertise in high volume, low cost production. They officially completed the acquisition on May 29, 1979. Despite investing in new production methods, Briggs & Stratton never understood the very low volume, highly customized nature of the air-cooled diesel engine market. After considering adding Italy's Lombardini to increase its presence in the diesel market, as well as a failed attempt to develop its own designs, Briggs & Stratton accepted defeat and sold the company to a private investor for a minimal amount to avoid further liabilities. Since the energy crisis had not affected the US market's preference for gasoline engines, enthusiasm waned rapidly at management level for diesel engines. Daihatsu Briggs & Stratton (DBS) – In an effort to stave off Japanese competition during the 1980s, Briggs & Stratton entered a 50/50 joint venture with the Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Company in Japan. Located in Shiga Prefecture (50 miles (80 km) from Osaka, Japan), construction on the then-57,000-square-foot (5,300 m2) plant began in December 1986 and was completed in April 1987. This joint venture was notable for the manufacture of vertical and horizontal crankshaft engines from 12.5 to 22 hp (16 kW) under the Vanguard brand. Today the plant employs roughly 100 people on two shifts and manufactures Vanguard V-twin engines ranging from 14 to 36 hp (27 kW). By the end of 2017, Briggs & Stratton is planning to move the production of Vanguard V-twin from Japan to USA The Mitsubishi Agreement – The Vanguard line initially consisted of three single-cylinder engines and severa

Innovations

The aluminum engine – This was introduced in 1953 as a means of having a lighter-weight engine for applications such as rotary lawn mowers. It was improved five years later in 1958 with the introduction of the Kool-Bore (all aluminum) and Sleeve-Bore (aluminum, with a cast iron cylinder liner). Easy-Spin Starting – This compression release, implemented as an extra hump on the intake lobe of the camshaft, was introduced in 1961 to reduce the effort required to start an engine. In 1982, a new U.S. federal safety regulation required lawnmower blades to stop spinning within three seconds of the operator letting go of the handle. The least costly, most common way of complying with the new regulation was to put a flywheel brake on the mower engine, to stop the engine (and therefore the blade) immediately when the handle was released. Briggs & Stratton engineers found engines with the Easy-Spin camshaft were unacceptably difficult to restart after being braked to a quick stop. The Easy-Spin lobe hump was moved to the exhaust valve, but this reduced engine performance. The intake-side Easy-Spin remained in use on Briggs & Stratton's engines larger than those used on mowers subject to the brake requirement, but was discontinued in 1997 due to tightening emission regulations. The Synchro-Balanced Engine – This 1966 innovation was designed to attenuate vibration caused by the reciprocating mass of a single-cylinder engine. The design was a series of counterweights opposing the crankpin. The Twin Cylinder Engine – This engine was introduced in 1977 as a means of competing with Briggs & Stratton's rivals, particularly Japanese firms like Honda who were cutting into traditional Briggs & Stratton markets by producing lawn mower engines (and later, complete lawn mowers). These first mo

Logo history

The Briggs & Stratton logo was always a masthead, but it has been changed several times over the course of the company's 80-plus years. Pre War logos (1931–1943) – This logo started off with a diamond shape and read Briggs & Stratton and its home city of MILWAUKEE, WIS., U.S.A. below it; in the middle, it had the words 4 CYCLE on the top mast and the words GASOLINE MOTOR and phrase MADE IN U.S.A. on the bottom mast. About 1934 Briggs & Stratton added the more familiar shape of a diamond split across the center with a banner. Gold Logo (1948–1963) – This logo had the name BRIGGS STRATTON and its home city of MILWAUKEE, WIS., U.S.A. below it; in the middle, it had the words 4 CYCLE on the top mast and the words GASOLINE ENGINE and phrase MADE IN U.S.A. on the bottom mast. Gold Logo (II) (1963–1976) – Although similar to the last logo, this had differently arranged wording: The name BRIGGS STRATTON was written in a new logotype, however, this design also included the horsepower rating above the gold logo in the white field, its city of location was in the middle as before, only this time the patent numbers were eliminated (if you look at a decal on a production engine) from the bottom portion of the mast. There were some engines produced until 1977 that used the prior logo from 1948. Red, White and Blue Logo (1976-1983) – This logo was introduced to replace the gold color and was phased out over a period in the mid eighties, which included engine cartons and replacement parts packaging. The Red, White, and Black Logo (1983–present) – This is the company's current logo. The logo has the name BRIGGS STRATTON in black letters on the white midsection of the masthead. The words 4 CYCLE ENGINE are on the red top portion of the mast and the city line MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, U.S.A.

Models

Flathead with gravity-feed float carb unless otherwise noted Cast-iron models. Number series 5 (1950–1957) 5S (1949–1957); suction carburetor 6 (1952–1957) 6H (1950-1955) 6S (1949–1957); suction carburetor 8 (1949–1957) 9 (1948–1962) 14 (1948–1963) 19 (1957–1965) 19D (1963–1965) 23 (1949–1957) 23A (1956–1965) 23C (1961–1963) 23D (1963–1965) 191400 and 193400 (1965–1966) 200400 (1966–1974) 231400 (1965–1966) 233400 (1965–1991) 243400 (1965–1991) 300420 (1966–1971) 301430 (1971–1972) 302430 (1972–1977) 320420 (1969–1971) 325430 (1971–1972) 326430 (1972–1991) Letter series A (1933–1948) B (1934-1948) F "Full Power" (1921-1922); suction carb, overhead valve FB "Full Power" (1922-1925); suction carb, overhead valve FC "Full Power" (1924-1925); suction carb, overhead valve FE (1925); suction carb, overhead valve FG (1927); overhead valve FH (1925–1933); suction carb, overhead valve FHI (1929); float carb, overhead valve FI (1927–1933); overhead valve FJ-1 (1929-1937); aluminum parts, used exclusively on military generators FJ-2 (1930–1932); cast iron civilian version of FJ-1 H (1933–1940) I & IS (1940–1949) IB & INT (1938-1942) K (1933-1940) L & LA (1930–1932); suction carb, used on washing machines M & MJ (1930–1934) N, NS & NP (1940–1954) P (1920); F-head PB (1923–1935); F-head PC-WI-100 (1941-1943); power charger with WI engine PC-200 (1936-1938); power charger with Y engine; used as a generator set PC-300 (1938-1944); power charger with I engine; used as a generator for the M33 multiple gun mount PC-304 (1943); power charger with I engine; used as a generator for the M45 multiple gun mount PC-WM (1936-1938); power charger with WM engine; used as a generator set PC-WMB (1938-1940); power charger with WMB engine Q (1925–1933); first flathead model R, RA, R2 & RC (1929–19

Headquarters, manufacturing plants, and testing facilities

Briggs & Stratton builds over 9,000,000 engines in the USA each year. The company employs over 3,000 employees in six states. Wauwatosa, WI, is home to the company's headquarters and R&D center. Manufacturing plants are located in Poplar Bluff, MO; Auburn, AL; Statesboro, GA; and Sherrill, NY. The company also has a proving grounds and testing facility located in Fort Pierce, FL.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

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