Marine Engine Information in The Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association Patent Library, Detroit

7964 Oakwood Park Court, St. Michaels, MD 21663

The Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association (MVMA) maintains a Patent Library at their offices in the Albert Kahn Building in Detroit. There are boxes of literature on many subjects: brakes, electrical, bodies, transmissions, engines, etc. The literature is preserved for patent reasons, in case some item can show prior use of an idea. The boxes are clean and well-labeled, though the engine boxes are rather scattered. The librarian is James Wren; I found him very helpful. They are not staffed to respond to letters or phone calls, but anyone may visit the library and use it.

Each box contains literature for a period of one to three years. Within each box, literature is divided into specific years by folders. The 'engine' boxes contain literature on car, truck, tractor, and marine engines. I took notes on only the marine engines except for a few others that were of special interest to me. The items below are catalogs unless otherwise noted. Markings show that most items were picked up at trade shows.

1910-12 Box

1911 Jenceck Motor Manufacturing Co., Port Chester, NY. 4-page folder. T-head; 4 cyl 5 x 5?, 40 HP and 6 cyl 7? x 7?, 150 HP.

1912 Gray instruction book. Hard back. Good cross sections of Schebler and Krice carbs. They called the Krice a 'puddle carburetor'.

1912 Loew Mfg. Co., Cleveland. T-head, 1-6 cyl and a 4-cyl en bloc engine.

1912 Bridgeport Motor Co., Bridgeport, CT. 2 cycle, 1-3 cyl 3-port

1912 Paragon folder. Has pictures of these engines: Turtle, Emerson, Holmes, Ideal, Missouri, Vim, Van Blerck, Atlantic, Eagle, Mianus, Pilot, Aristo, Scripps, Anderson, Frisbie, Royal, Gray, Doman, Lathrop, Remington (oil eng), Canadian FM, Redwing, Mercury, Bridgeport, Fulton, Greenport, Knox, HFL, Trebert, Kent, Clay. All the engines pictured have 2 or more cylinders. Listed without pictures are: Demooy, Miller, Oakland, Ithaca, Emery, Teel, Barker, Bath, Fay & Bowen, Kennebec, Smalley, Lawley, Oriole, Hartford, Brown, Kahlenberg.

1912 Ferro catalog, and a large book: 'A Practical Treatise'.

1911 Turtle folder. 2 cycle 1-4 cylinders. Has dual transfer passages and dual piston baffles. Radically offset cylinders.

1912 Scripps. L-head, 1 -6 cylinders.

1911 Reynolds Motor Co., Detroit. Rotary valve 4 cycle 4 cylinder 15-20 HP. Mech lubricator with 7 lines. Emerson dual ignition.

1911 Automatic Machine Co., Bridgeport, CT. 'The Automatic.' 2 and 4 cycle. Catalog includes a marine gas producer.

1911 flyer on 'Simple Simon' hopper-cooled engines. 'Armstrong' on hopper. Motsinger friction drive magneto against flywheel. Interesting because the flyer had been mailed to a marine engine maker, the Hettinger Engine Co.