riding lawn mowers

The company was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1908 and today is based in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Briggs and Stratton engines are very commonly used on lawnmowers, as well as karts, pressure washers, wood chippers, electric generators, etc. Their engines are known for their durability and low maintenance requirements.

The company started in 1908 as an informal partnership between Stephen Foster Briggs and Harold M. Stratton. The original intent of the founders was to produce automobiles. In 1922 the company set a record in the automotive industry, selling the lowest-priced car ever, the Briggs & Stratton Flyer (also called the "Red Bug"), at only US$125-US$150.

Eventually the company would settle on automotive components, like locks & keys, and small gasoline engines. Briggs purchased an engine patent from AO Smith Company and began powering early washing machines and refridgerators. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1928.

During World War II, Briggs and Stratton produced generators for the war effort. The generators and the engines were made with aluminum, a major advancement for small engines. This development, along with the post-war growth of 1950s suburbs (and lawns), helped secure Briggs and Stratton's successful growth 1950s and 1960s.

Stephen Briggs went on to purchase Evinrude and Johnson Outboards and start the Outboard Marine Corporation. Harry Stratton served as Chairman until his death in 1962.

In 1995, Briggs & Stratton spun out the automotive componenet business. The resulting company is Strattec Security Corporation.

Briggs & Stratton innovations

• The Aluminum Engine - This was introduced in 1953 as a means of having a lighter-weight engine for applications such as lawn mowers or string trimmers. It was improved five years later in 1958 with the introduction of the Kool-Bore (all aluminum) and Sleeve-Bore (aluminum, with a cast iron cylinder liner).

• Easy-Spin Starting - This was introduced in 1961 as a means of cutting in half the effort of manually starting an engine. This had replaced all means of starting on all B&S engines except for electric start systems.

But in 1982, as new federal safety regulations required every small engine manufacturer to add emergency shut-off switches to lawn mower applications, company engineers discovered that engines with the Easy-Spin intake were unacceptably difficult to restart. The Easy-Spin was moved to the exhaust valve, but this move presented mediocre horsepower ratings. Where that was an issue, a mechanical compression release was used. The intake valve Easy-Spin had continued to be used on B&S's larger engines, but was shelved in 1997 due to new emission regulations.

Their engines now are usually fitted with a dead man's switch to halt power immediately in the case of the operator getting injured by the tool. On Briggs and Stratton engines, this works by the principle of engine braking, with the engines default state as braked. The operator must hold a handle to remove the engine brake, with any release of this handle causing the engine to brake again.

• The Sno/Gard Engine - Introduced in 1966, this innovation was exclusively designed for engines powering snow blowers. Prior to 1966, customers of the snowblower had complaints about protection of the engine from the elements of winter. B&S met the needs of these customers by designing special features for this engine such as an air-intake shield, a starter clutch shield and a specially-designed housing to cover the spark plug and carburetor, as well as providing heat for the latter.

• The Synchro-Balanced Engine - Also introduced in 1966, this innovation was designed as a means to curb vibrations caused by the high RPM and torque of lawn mower engines, especially in riding lawn mowers. The design was a series of counterweights placed along the engine's crankshaft.

• The Twin Cylinder Engine - This engine was introduced in 1977 as a means of competing with B&S's rivals, particularly Japanese firms like Honda who were cutting into traditional B&S fare by producing lawn mower engines (and later, complete lawn mowers). These first models were rated 16 HP and displaced 40 cubic inches, but were joined in 1979 by 42 cubic inch models rated at 18 HP.

• Briggs & Stratton HYBRID - In 1980, at the tail end of the energy crisis, Briggs and Stratton developed the first gasoline-electric hybrid automobile. "The Hybrid" was designed by Brooks Stevens and powered by a twin cyclinder 16hp Briggs and Stratton engine and a large electric battery.

• MAGNETRON Electronic Ignition - This solid state ignition system, introduced by B&S in 1981, eliminated the age-old points and condenser setup that had plagued many customers who had used a gasoline engine for years. This setup is also available in retrofit kits, but these are only compatible with B&S's external ignition engines produced since January, 1963. However, its rival Tecumseh had made a capacitor discharge ignition setup since 1968, for their cast iron engine models, expanding it to vertical shaft engines powering lawn mowers in late 1976 before the setup came full circle in August, 1984 for all of their engine lines.

Briggs & Stratton logo history

The Briggs & Stratton logo was always a masthead, but it had been changed several times over the course of the company's 80+ years.

• Gold Logo (1948---1964) - This logo had the name BRIGGS & STRATTON and its home city of MILWAUKEE, WIS., U.S.A. below it; in the middle, it had the words 4 CYCLE on the top mast and the words GASOLINE ENGINE and phrase MADE IN U.S.A. on the bottom mast.

• Gold Logo (II) (1964---1976) - Although similar to the last logo, this had differently arranged wording: The name BRIGGS & STRATTON was written in a new logotype, however, its city of location were in the middle as before, only this time the patent numbers were eliminated (if you look at a decal on a production engine) from the bottom portion of the mast. There were some engines produced until 1977 that used the prior logo from 1948.

• The Red, White and Black Logo (1976---present) - This is the company's current logo. The logo has the name BRIGGS & STRATTON in black letters on the white midsection of the masthead. The words 4 CYCLE ENGINE are on the red top portion of the mast and the city line MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, U.S.A. is written on the black bottom portion of the mast. Although the logo hadn't been changed much since then, the wording on the top and bottom sections of the mast were removed in 1985, although the company continued to use these two sections with the respective wordings ORIGINAL (red section) and SERVICE PARTS (black section) until 1989.

Briggs & Stratton Cast Iron Model History

• 5 (cast iron) (1950---1957)
• 5S (cast iron; suction carburetor) (1949---1957)
• 6 (cast iron) (1952---1957)
• 6S (cast iron; suction carburetor) (1949---1957)
• 8 (cast iron) (1949---1957)
• 9 (cast iron) (1949---1962)
• 14 (cast iron) (1948---1963)
• 19 (cast iron) (1957---1965)
• 19D (cast iron) (1963---1965)
• 23 (cast iron) (1949---1957)
• 23A (cast iron) (1956---1965)
• 23C (cast iron) (1961---1963)
• 23D (cast iron) (1963---1965)
• 191400 and 193400 (cast iron) (1965---1966)
• 200400 (cast iron) (1966---1974)
• 231400 (cast iron) (1965---1966)
• 233400 (cast iron) (1965---1991)
• 243400 (cast iron) (1965---1991)
• 300420 (cast iron) (1966---1971)
• 301430 (cast iron) (1971---1972)
• 302430 (cast iron) (1972---1977)
• 320420 (cast iron) (1969---1971)
• 325430 (cast iron) (1971---1972)
• 326430 (cast iron) (1972---1991)

Popular Briggs & Stratton Aluminum Models

• 60100 (horizontal shaft) (1958---1991)
• 80200 (horizontal shaft) (1960---1991)
• 80300 and 80400 (horizontal shaft) (1958---1991)
• 92500 and 92900 (vertical shaft) (1965---1991)
• 94500 and 94900 (vertical shaft; Quiet Power) (1979---1985)
• 110900 (vertical shaft) (1973---1991)
• 130200 (horizontal shaft) and 130900 (vertical shaft) (1966---1991)
• 170400 (horizontal shaft) and 170700 (vertical shaft) (1966---1991)
• 190400 (horizontal shaft) and 190700 (vertical shaft) (1969---1997)
• 252410 (horizontal shaft) and 252700 (vertical shaft) (1977---1991)

External links

• Briggs and Stratton Company Website
• Briggs and Stratton Generators

References

• Briggs & Stratton Decals at Classic-Engines.com

Recommended reading

• The Legend of Briggs & Stratton - Author: Jeffrey L. Rodengen (published by Write Stuff Syndicate, 1995)

Library of Congress Catalog #: 95-060793; ISBN No. 0-945903-11-1