I ran across this the other day in a May 1956 issue of Aeronautical Engineering Review.
"Since 1909" ... I wonder ...
Be_Zero_Be
I don't know, man.
I use electricity to start fires.
That's about all I can make it do.
here you go.
http://www.hallscottengines.com/Page_2.html
We have a member in our local Model T Club (The Santa Clara Valley Club) that is a grandson, I believe, of either Hall or Scott.
He worked at an engine rebuild factory when he was in college. He went on to be an engineer at GM
I was at a cruise-in couple of weeks ago and a guy had a huge speedster built around a huge Hall-Scott 6 cyl.engine. He said it was around 850 c.i. and had about 850 lbs. of torgue. It had two Schebler carbs that looked about the size of 850 Holleys. It was a beautiful machine that I wanted to talk about but all he wanted to talk about was Model T's. Don.
Don-
Hall-Scott Engines were often used as replacement engines for American LaFrance fire engines. The speedster you saw may have at one time been a magnificent fire engine.
: ^ (
Hall-Scott engines powered many rum runners in San Pedro and also made big-go trucks run as they should. My dad sold the gas to make them go
Eaton purchased rights for the Rearends from Ruckstell late 1927. So I'm Guessing Ruckstell was Previously Hall Scott.
We have quite a bit of info and photos about the Hall Scott @ http://theoldmotor.com/?s=hall+-+scott
We have quite a bit of info and photos about the Hall Scott @ http://theoldmotor.com/?s=hall+-+scott
Didn't they make small outboard motors??
The Scott radio was absolute top of the line in the 1930s. They cost more than a new Ford.
Fred,
I believe you're right. What we think of as Ruckstell two speed rear ends first hit the market under the Hall-Scott name.
Glen Chaffin knows more about part of this subject than anyone, but Hall Scott made the Perfecto rear axle for who ever that person was, and then Mr. Ruckstell bought him out, but Hall Scott continued to make the Ruckstells until Eaton purchased it around 1925. BTW, Eaton units are easy to identify, because all four corners of the patent plate are clipped. To my knowledge, no one makes that plate.
I thought that Glover Ruckstell purchased the patent on the Perfecto at the Chicago auto show and then assigned the patent to Hall Scott, his employer. I think that was Hall Scott's first venture into the arena. I don't believe the Perfecto went into production until purchased by Ruckstell. It wasn't long thereafter Ruckstell redesigned the Perfecto and produced the Ruckstell 2 speed axle.
BTW, there were changes made to the Perfecto during its short life, so I suspect Ruckstell was tinkering with the product before he decided to redesign the unit completely. Eg, the early Perfecto sold to me by Larry Smith has a beefier axle housing but only 1/4" bolts that hold the shift lock to the housing. I wish there were more parts of that unit, since I suspect there were other differences I would find interesting. Thanks Larry.
Didn't Hall-Scott produce the 4 wheel drive assembly that was put on Ford PU,s after WWII
45 to 50ish. I know someone with one that was assembled by Three Robles (SP) parts Co. here in Seattle.???
Bob
Bob, you may be thinking of Marmon-Herrington. I know they built 4x4 conversions for Fords back in that time period anyway. Maybe Hall-Scott did also? Dave
David
You are correct, it is Marmon-Herrington. The one my friend has only 35000 miles since new
and he has restored the unit to like new one nice rig.
I have letters between Mr.Ruckstel & Mr. Lagenfeld of The Snow Flyer Co. on getting the exclusive rights for the passenger car Ruckstel rear axle and Sure Lock Differential gears for his Snow units along with the order for 100 each. Letters were dated Feb & March of 1927. A telegram from Mr.Ruckstel, March
1 1927 stated he thought this could be arranged.
Bob
In 1958 My dad acquired a very used Caterpillar 2 Ton tractor with a Hall-Scott designed engine. Over the next year my Dad and I rebuilt this beast...
It had an overhead cam engine with hemispherical combustion chambers of the cross flow design, having exhaust and intake on the same side or the engine. The intake crossed through the center of the head where a butterfly valve gov. was actuated by a fly-lever arrangement off the cam gear.
The most unique feature of the engine, was that the camshaft had only four lobes! A set of very interesting cam follower levers actuated two intakes and two exhaust valves from each lobe. The engine ran like a watch and was way over powered for the weight of the tractor as I remember.
I was in the original Hall-Scott plant many times in the 1970's when it was Berkeley Pump's plant. The large windows shown in the picture were still there, and gave the plant a "laboratory" like feeling.
I feel fortunate to have experienced one of Hall-Scott's machines and it's home of origin!
I talked with a friend this morning who has a Scott radio. He says Mr. Scott was from Australia.
In answer to your questions about Hall Scott and the Perfecto Axle. The Perfecto axle was designed and patented by Charles Starr and Arthur Baker of Bellingham Washington. They Both held patents for the same product. The Perfecto was offered for sale by The Perfecto Gear Differential Co. of Bellingham, Washington and was manufactured by The American Coin Register Co. in Emeryville, near Oakland, California. Price was $125.00. Sales were slow and disappointing for Perfecto.
The Perfecto was manufactured from 1920-1921 at which time Glover Ruckstell bought the patent rights. Ruckstell transferred production to his employer, The Hall Scott Co. of Berkley, California and continued to manufacture and sell the Perfecto for a few months. During that time Ruckstell and Hall Scott redesigned the Perfecto to reduce cost and improve reliability and producability. The end result was the Ruckstell Axle. Ruckstell stopped production of the Perfecto and began production of the new Ruckstell Axle in in early 1921. Price $62.50, half the price of the Perfecto.
The new Ruckstell gained immediate popularity and sales began climbing. Even Henry Ford liked it and sold them through his Ford Dealerships. It is estimated that Ruckstell sold near 650,000 Ruckstell kits At $62.50 each. That equates to over $40,000,000.00
Thanks for the clarification Glen. Another interesting thing is, Emeryville is next door to Berkeley.
Starr later developed the Starr Planator, which used mostly Ford gears and sold for less than the Ruckstell. Ruckstell sued Staar but lost after a year long legal wrangle. The Staar apparently evolved into the Jumbo Planator which improved the shift mechanism but is otherwise the same. The problem with it was that it gave a 50% reduction, which is too slow. The Ruckstell remained much more popular in the day and today to find a working Staar Planator is rare. I have two of them on the bench, doing them for a guy in east Texas. They are interesting to work on.
Richard Wolf - Actually, the outboard motor you're thinking of was the Scott-Atwater, out of business in the late '50's or early '60's, and not related to Hall-Scott.