Briggs & Stratton

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Briggs & Stratton is an American industrial company primarily involved in engineering, developing and manufacturing internal combustion reciprocating gas engines. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of air-cooled gasoline engines primarily for outdoor power equipment. Production averages 10 million engines per year as of April 2015.

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History

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The company started in 1908 as an informal partnership between Stephen Foster Briggs and Harold M. Stratton. S.F. Briggs was born in Watertown, South Dakota, and graduated from South Dakota State College (now South Dakota State University) in Brookings in 1907. The idea for his first product came from an upper-level engineering class project at SDSC. This first product was a six-cylinder, two-cycle engine, which Stephen Foster Briggs developed during his engineering courses at South Dakota State. After his graduation, he was eager to produce his engine and enter the rapidly expanding automobile industry. Bill Juneau, a coach at South Dakota State, knew of Briggs’ ambition and the entrepreneurial interests of Harold M. Stratton, a successful grain merchant who had a farm next to Juneau’s farm, so he introduced the two. In 1922, their fledgling company set a record in the automotive industry, selling the Briggs & Stratton Flyer (the “Red Bud”) at record low prices of US$125-$150.
Eventually Briggs and Stratton settled on manufacturing automotive components and small gasoline engines. Briggs purchased an engine patent from A.O. Smith Company and began powering early washing machines and reel mowers as well as many other types of equipment. 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. Frederick P. Stratton, Jr. served as Chairman until his retirement in 2001.
In 1995, Briggs & Stratton sold the automotive component business. The resulting company is Strattec Security Corporation.
In 2000,[6] the company acquired its consumer generator business from the Beacon Group and formed Briggs & Stratton Power Products. The Beacon Group had previously purchased the Consumer Products Division of Generac Corporation (now Generac Power Systems) in 1998. In 2005, the company added Simplicity Manufacturing Inc, and Snapper, Inc, to the Briggs & Stratton Power Products line. Murray, Inc, one of its largest customers, collapsed owing the company $40 million, and to minimize the loss Briggs & Stratton purchased the name, marketing rights and product designs of that company. In 2008, Briggs & Stratton announced it would be acquiring the Victa Lawn Care business from GUD Holdings Limited Australia for A$23 million.
Acquisitions, agreements and joint ventures[edit]
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.[7] 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 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).[9]
The Mitsubishi Agreement – The Vanguard line initially consisted of three single-cylinder engines and several V-twin engines. The V-twins, made by DBS, had sold very well but the single-cylinder engine models, originally produced at Briggs & Stratton’s Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin plant, didn’t fare so well. Briggs & Stratton needed to solve this problem, so, following discussions with several Japanese engine manufacturers, it entered into an agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan. Briggs & Stratton produced only certain parts for the engines, while Mitsubishi was responsible for overall production and shipping. The completed single-cylinder Vanguard engines were shipped directly to customers worldwide. Briggs & Stratton had exclusive marketing rights only in North America, Europe and Australia/New Zealand. MHI had exclusive marketing rights (under their own brand name) in Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. In other countries both companies competed with the same product under their own brand names which led to considerable friction, and together with escalating production costs in Japan, caused this otherwise successful relationship to fail. Briggs & Stratton commenced marketing alternative U.S.-made single-cylinder engines under the Vanguard brand in early 2007.
The Komatsu Zenoah Venture – In May 1987, Briggs & Stratton entered into an agreement with yet another Japanese company, executing a 10-year contract with the Komatsu Zenoah Company of Tachikawa, Japan. Under the terms of the contract, Komatsu would manufacture a 2-cycle, 4 hp (3 kW) engine, in which Briggs & Stratton would purchase and distribute in the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Said Fred Stratton, “This venture was not successful, because the rising price of the yen made the engine too expensive in the U.S.”
The Toro Agreement – In 1999, Briggs & Stratton made a license agreement with The Toro Company of Bloomington, Minnesota USA. to produce the ToroR*Tek piston ported version of their E series 2-stroke engine (AKA Lawn-Boy DuraForce) for use in Toro Snow Throwers. The R*TEK engine was a 141cc 2 cycle that produced from 4 hp to 6.5 hp with only the need to adjust the RPMs ranging from 3700 rpms to 4000 rpms and ran using a gas & oil mix of 50:1. A High Out put 7-HP model was made (Engine Model# 84330) for the use in heavier duty snow throwers such as the single stage Snow Commander (2001-2008) & 2 stage Power Max 726TE/6000 (2004-2008), the extra .5 horse power was obtained using Transfer Ports in the piston & cylinder wall and ran at the same operating speed as the 6.5 hp engines (4000rpms). Production stopped in 2011.
Outboard motors
Briggs & Stratton/I/tC 130g32-0059-h1
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. Milwaukee, WI, is home to the company’s headquarters and R&D center. Manufacturing plants are located in Poplar Bluff, MO; Murray, KY; Auburn, AL; Statesboro, GA; McDonough, GA; and Munnsville, NY. The company also has a proving grounds and testing facility located in Fort Pierce, FL

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Specifications For Briggs & Stratton
4-Stroke Cycle GasMarine Engines

Click on Links for Model Pages with Spec Sheets, Manuals, etc.

TABLE KEY:
CYL = Cylinder Configuration-Number−Liner: IL = Vertical In-Line, s =Slanted, h = Horizontal, n = Inverted
-CYL: V = V, O = Opposed, R = Radial, WR = Wankel Rotary
−CYL: W = Wet Liners, D = Dry Liners, C = Combo Wet & Dry Liners, P = Parent/Native Bore, S = Sleeved
−CYL:  ? = Not Published
RATING: COM = Commercial, R = Recreational, WB = Work Boat, PC = Pleasure Craft
RATING: CON = Continuous, INT = Intermittent
RATING: CON, CD, HD, MCD, MD, INT, ID, GS, HO, etc. (See Duty Ratings at end of this table)
ASP: NA = Naturally Aspirated, T = Turbocharged, S = Supercharged
ASP: TA = Turbocharged & Aftercooled, TI = Turbocharged and Intercooled
KW = Kilowatts, HP = Horsepower, BHP = Brake Horsepower, MHP = Metric Horsepower, ? = Not Published
@RPM = Power Ratings @ Revolutions Per Minute
YEARS MFR’D: Beginning-Ending, Trailing  –  (Dash) without an Ending Date = Still in Production

ENGINE FAMILY/MODEL CYL BORE STROKE BORE STROKE DISPLACEMENT
Family/Model IL-?−? ?mm ?mm ?in ?in ?L / ?ci
MODEL/RATING ASP KW HP BHP MHP @RPM YEARS MFR'D
? NA ? ? ? ? 19??-19??‚
? T ? ? ? ? 19??-19??

ENGINE FAMILY/MODEL CYL BORE STROKE BORE STROKE DISPLACEMENT
Family/Model IL-?−? ?mm ?mm ?in ?in ?L / ?ci
MODEL/RATING ASP KW HP BHP MHP @RPM YEARS MFR'D
? NA ? ? ? ? 19??-19??‚
? T ? ? ? ? 19??-19??
Table Under Development
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Table and Links from www.OldMarineEngine.com
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Manufactures from Carpenter Data
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Duty Ratings

Continuous

Pleasure Craft

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Contact Information

Briggs & Stratton
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