The Hero's of IC Generators

[SteveU.]

Been a bit slow here so I'll give you'all some foods for thought.

Tom Edison was hailed as an electrical hero for developing a usable light bulb. True. Then on the electrical supply side for his lighting systems is where he went off track; to Bigatosis and became step by step became an elitist ass.
Same with Henry Ford with automobiles.
Lord save us from those with good intentions who think they know "best" for us. Edison, Ford and now Bill Sr, Jr and Melinda Gates. "As the world turns"

The real 20th century "Power to the People" were the systems designers, developers that actually GAVE individuals the ability to make their own combustion-free lighting. Gave Freeing electrical pumping, refrigeration and labor saving electrical point of use motors. Gave IC power engines for small individual farm, fishing and resources harvesting uses.

Soichiro HONDA; Raymond Herrick (TECUMSHEH); John LAUSEN; Stephen Foster Briggs & Harold M Stratton; Ole EVINRUDE; the JOHNSON Brothers; John Micheal KOHLER; Magokichi Yamaoka (Yanmar); Karl Kiekhaefer (MERCURY); Genichi Kawakami (Yamaha).

I've only listed out some of the US/Canadian and Japanese principal fellows. Others are searchable.
Some like Kawasaki are corporate efforts and hard to pick out a single driving individual. Until recently there were Kawasaki portable, individual use generator systems.
European designer/developer individuals in the Lister, Petter UK side; and the wonderful German single cylinder horizontal engines that went 1940's Germany -> Japan -> China left behind occupation generators -> to ChangFa' I will leave to better knowledgeable EU members to list out the principal contributors.

My point is these are the guys to hold in high regards as actually putting onto the face of the planet power system that individuals could use to ease and enrich their daily lives.

Tesla was important, yes. George Westinghouse was important, yes too. But their creations expressed into real world systems were always BIG $$$$'s investments to be centrally distributed out systems. Not really power OUT to the individual as an enabler' . . . .  but actually wealth-IN to a few concentrators systems.
The real power then was just like with the railroads, steel, coal and later Big oil  . . . into the bankers, investors. And later the political Progressive "know best for you" elites.

Here is proof of this.

www.onanfamily.org/onan-history-product-line.html
For me Explorer cannot find this link. Foxfire can.
13 chapters of the Onan companies developments.
For sure read 04) Electric Plant
Show how the first 1018 Ten Lite's and 1019 Ten Lite's were remote use needs demanded. Ha! You mabby wan to read back to the previous Safety saw to see the evolved from engine and motor uses. Ha! Then that takes you back to David Warren Onan original working in the "new" automobile electric field in the very early 1900's.
Double Ha! Ha! These first single cylinder electric plant had terrible light bulb flicker. D.W's son Bud partially solved this with flexible engine to gen head coupling dampening. Sound familiar? Later better solved by a hired in engineer with a second set of engine points to pulse the gen head field supply. To weaken the voltage UP flare at the crankshaft power IN part of the 720 degrees. Lister SOM's used V belts stretching/speed delaying along with a heavy gen head flywhell delay mass to do the same.
And later yet solved the best by another hired in fellow James C. Hoiby pushing into use twin cylinder engines to broaden out the crankshaft power IN pulses. Just like Lister and Petter evolved to Do. Less vibration. Less; to No-More, hopping. Less stress on individual systems parts. For the Lister less massive overall system weight finally allowing it to be portable.
Opps.  That part is in chapter 06) The WWII Boom. A must read too. WHY the most used Onan generator systems evolved to have the flat opposed two cylinder engines. Not cheap to manufacture.
In chapter 05) The Great Depression Years is the clear evidence that progressive FDR's Top-Down push for "to the poor Rurals" centrally made, and distributed out electricity did just about killed off Onan and Kohler companies generators divisions. DID kill off the established, evolved windcharger companies.
Onan was saved by upping their units from 350 watts to up to 3000 watts with water cooling and electric starting available. Expanding out into the South American countries. Then war contracts to Great Britain.
Lots of good pictures in this history link.
Some picture in the Cummins history site related to Onan history and systems too.

You can find some histories similar on actual Power-to-the-People systems put into real use on every one of my Hero's I listed above.

Giving my Yamaha EF2800i a break from generating for the off-Grid farm out building today.
Using the wife's EU2000I Honda to day instead.
Worked out the 7.5 hp B&S yesterday gardens rototilling. Then two hours on the rider mower with  Kawasaki 600cc V-twin mowing before todays rain. Ha! The two Honda engined walk behind mowers sleeping away along with the 10.5 hp B&S engined 30 ton woodsplitter. When rain is pending time is the issue. More power needed.
Woodsplitter is resting for now.
Be having to work the two Andreas Stihl chainsaws first.
I wonder why unlike McCullough he never made a generator system.
EU guys who was the 20th Century driving force behind Huskavana IC engines developments. Corporate effort? Driven by Government contracts?

Regards
Steve Unruh