Ole
[middle name?]
Evinrude
Born April 19, 1877
in Norway
Son of
[father?] and
[mother?]
[brothers or sisters?]
Husband of
Bess Cary
(Married in
[location?] [marriage date?])
Father of
Ralph Evinrude [add child]
Died July 12, 1934
in Wisconsin, US
About Ole Evinrude
Ole Evinrude was born April 19, 1877. (The original spelling of the last name may have been Evenrood or Evenrude.) He came to America from Norway in 1882 with his family.
Ole created the first commercially feasible outboard motor for pleasure and enjoyment of the public.
From a young age, Ole enjoyed working with things mechanical. He studied about the new internal combustion engine, and he set out to build his own horse carriage.
In 1906, while rowing a small boat five miles for 90 minutes in the summer heat in Wisconsin, he realized the combustion engine might also be used for boats, not just carriages. For the next year he built a prototype motor, 1 ½ horsepower, 62 pound engine. His idea: create a vertical crankshaft, horizontal flywheels, and set of bevel gears.
It took a couple years and advertisements like "Don't Row ... Throw the Oaks Away!" but his outboard motors for boats started to become popular, selling for $62.00 each. There were others experimenting with the idea of an outboard motor but Evinrude's was the first to be commercially successful.
By August 22, 1911, Ole had a patent for the "Detachable Row Boat Motor." By 1913, they had sold 10,000 motors.
He worked so hard at producing the motors he needed a break, so he sold the business for $140,000 to a partner, Chris Meyer, in 1914. However, Ole kept developing new products.
By 1919, he had developed a twin-cylinder, 3-horsepower, 48-pound, aluminum outboard motor. He offered the new item to Chris Meyer. Meyer turned down the product. Evinrude then formed a new business: the ELTO Company (the name stood for 'Evinrude light twin outboard') which now created new competition with the first company he had founded, then owned by Meyer. Meyer sold the company to Stephen F. Briggs of Briggs & Stratton.
Between 1919 and 1929, the two companies went back and forth as leaders in this new industry. Johnson Motors, which started in 1922, a specialist of inboard motors and speedboats, then took the lead in the industry. Ole's son, Ralph S. Evinrude joined the family business in 1927 and worked on development of a new four-cylinder motor, the "Elto Quad".
During the Great Depression years it was a difficult struggle to keep the business going but it did survive.
Ole's wife, Bess, died in 1933. Her lost was too much for Ole. He died July 12, 1934. Ralph Evinrude now had full control of the business.
By 1936, all three companies merged together to form OMC (Outboard Marine & Manufacturing Corp.). Ralph Evinrude continued to run the corporation and added many new products (chainsaws, lawn mowers, etc).
Ole Evinrude came to America as an immigrant and developed a product and a business that continued for decades.
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On December 13,
Alice Luckhardt
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