Evinrude

This short video from Milwaukee PBS popped up on the Youtube feed:

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8MqEDQJyqQ

Quite interesting, at least to a Wisconsinite :)  When I was a kid in the 1960s we had an Evinrude outboard motor, a Yachtwin - as I recall it was light blue and white as contrasted with the camo green of a Johnson motor :)  We didn't use the motor that much so Dad would periodically run it in a garbage can filled with water.  This was in the garage where he had a small setup made of 2 x 4s nailed to the wall to hold the motor.  When the motor was fitted to a rowboat it didn't go very fast but I guess it wasn't meant to - it was for moving sailboats while in the harbor ?  I think my lack of interest in boating was kind of a disappointment for my Dad - he had been in the Naval Reserve, owned a small sailboat, loved to go fishing - me: not so much :)

A Yachtwin

Evinrude's 1st outboard motor patent:

source: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/fe/de/3a/9e6e53f787da50/US1001260.pdf
 

The book mentioned in the video: Ole Evinrude and his Outboard Motor

I was surprised at being able to borrow this book on Overdrive (without having to wait) but then I realized that it was for kids.  So the book is an easy read - lotsa pictures - my kind of book !  :)  The author, Jacobsen was featured in that Youtube video above.  Here is the Evinrude outboard origin story:

Bess

As mentioned in the book, things were really changing at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries.  And the Evinrude motor was part of that.  Not quite the same recently, just somewhat lame AI along with the endless scroll :(

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm