The Electric Launch Company, later renamed Elco Motor Yachts ("Elco"), is an American boat building and electric motor company that has operated from 1893 to 1949 and from 1987 to the present.

History

Elco first made its mark at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. Fifty-five launches, each 36 feet long and powered by battery-drive
electric motors
carried over a million passengers. In 1899 Isaac Rice, president of the Electric Storage Battery Company and owner of Electric Boat Company, now Electro-Dynamic Company, (both suppliers to Elco), acquired Elco as a subsidiary of his new Electric Boat Company. Elco built a new boatyard in

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...

soon afterward. Previously, Elco boats had been built in subcontracted facilities. By 1900, electric-powered pleasure boats outnumbered the combined number of boats powered by steam and explosive engines (as gasoline-powered motors were called). By 1910, the advantages of the range and power of gasoline came to dominate the market and Elco converted to motor boats. The company built the first diesel powered yacht in America, ''Idealia'', built during 1911 and launched in 1912. ''Idealia'' was owned by the company into 1916 and used for demonstrating the application of two stroke diesel engines in yachts. On 22 October 1913 under ELCO corporate manager Henry R. Sutphen ''Idealia'' performed a trial on the Hudson River witnessed by naval engineers and architects on a run of about sixty miles from the Columbia Yacht Club at 86th Street to

Croton Point Croton Point Park is a Westchester County park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green spa ...

and back. The original ''Idealia'' installation was a reversible, air started, two cycle engine with six working cylinders and one two stage air compression cylinder that was rated at 150 horsepower at 550 revolutions per minute. The original engine was replaced by a NELSECO 120 horsepower

four cycle engine A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directi ...

by February 1915. During World War I, the company built five hundred and eighty 80-foot

submarine chaser A submarine chaser or subchaser is a small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. Many of the American submarine chasers used in World War I found their way to Allied nations by way of Lend-Lease in World War II. ...

s (aka Motor Launches) for the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

, and 448 110-foot submarine chasers and 284 boats of other types for the US Navy. Between the wars, it introduced the 26-foot Cruisette, a cabin cruiser which became successful. This was followed in the 1930s with 30-foot to 57-foot Veedettes and Flattops. During World War II, Elco formed the Elco Naval Division in

. Nearly 400 Elco PT boats were produced for the U.S. Navy. After experimentation, the firs
PT boat
built in any quantity was the 73-foot type. Later 77-foot and 80-foot types were built. More 80-foot Elco boats were built than any other type of US motor torpedo boat. Perhaps the most notable 80-foot PT boat was PT-109, commanded by future president John F. Kennedy. Even though 85' Elco crash rescue boats were substituted in the 1963 film ''

PT 109 ''PT-109'' was an 80' Elco PT boat (patrol torpedo boat) last commanded by Lieutenant (junior grade) John F. Kennedy, future United States president, in the Solomon Islands campaign of the Pacific theater during World War II. Kennedy's ac ...

'', the "Elco" script logo can be seen on the cockpit throttle housing in several scenes in the picture. At the end of the war, the company merged with its sister company,

Electric Boat An electric boat is a powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or generators. While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail pow ...

, under John Jay Hopkins. In 1949, Electric Boat decided to focus on government contracts for submarines, and Elco was closed until 1987.

Today

Today Elco produces hand-crafted replicas of some of its classic launches in Athens, New York. The company also still makes electric motors, mainly used to repower sailboats and heavy displacement powerboats as a replacement for diesel engines. Their EP Motors range in power from 1–35 kW, which is the diesel equivalent of 2–70 hp. Elco has also worked on recent projects with

Hunter Marine Hunter Marine is an American boat builder, now known as Marlow-Hunter, LLC, owned by David E. Marlow. The company also produces the Mainship powerboat brand. Marlow also owns and manufactures the Marlow Yachts brand consisting of long rang ...

to outfit some of their yachts with Elco motors and a combination of solar panels and wind turbines.Hunter 27e
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References

Records of the Electric Launch Company

Elco History Page
* Gardiner, Robert, ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921'' Conway Maritime Press, 1985. .

External links

Elco

Boats of the Motor Launch Patrol

{{Authority control Bayonne, New Jersey Companies based in Hudson County, New Jersey Shipyards of New Jersey

History

Today

See also

References

External links