Jim wrote:
>Depending on where you look, you will see different manufacturers listed
>for the M151 engines. The things I'd appreciate clarification on are;
>
>1) Who actually designed the engine (not the person, the company)?
Ford Motor Company, Ordnance Vehicle Project.
>2) Why does the name "Continental" keep coming up as the designer/builder?
>Did they build them at all? I've been told no.
Primary Govt. contractor for motors
>3) Who actually built the engines during the years when they were built
>under contract by various companies? Did Willys Commercial manufacture the
>engines when they had the contract? Ford? AM General?
Contractor supplied to assembly plants.
>4) I have been told that these are modified Ford Cortina engines. They
>don't look like it , but...?
No.
>5) I have also been told that they are modified tractor engines (shades of
>the NNA tractor engine in the GPs)?
No, tractor motor came later. Also, the GP motor was NOT a NNA. It
was a 9-N motor. NNA motor came later and, contrary to some magazine
articles, the GP motor was very reliable and gave good service. Government
test results in the National Archives attest to this.
As to the design of the M-151 motor........
This subject was covered sometime ago so I'll re-post some of it here.
The design for the M-151 engine was done by Ford Motor Company,
Ordnance Vehicle Project Department. In 1951, Ford O.V.P. (later S.M.V.O)
started the design for a 4cyl O.H.V. motor to use in it's proposals to the
Govt. for a completely new design 1/4 ton truck. Nearly all components of
the engine were designed by the Ford engineers with only a few items (
pistons for example-Bohn Aluminum co.) developed in conjunction with other
firms.
In the later production contracts it was the government that
supplied the engines. The actual contracts were for the vehicle less
engine. The engines (built to the Ford design) were supplied to the Govt.
by an outside contractor and the Govt. then supplied them to whomever had
the contract at that time.
(Data from Special Military Vehicle Operations (S.M.V.O.), Ford Motor
Co. Industrial Archives.)
The question of reproduction rights figured in the design right from
the start. There were two kinds of patent rights Ford had to deal with in
the development contract. "Foreground Patents" (patents conceived in the
performance of the development contract) and "Background Patents" (patents
already owned or controlled by a contractor or subcontractor in items being
designed or purchased). Under the terms of the 2.5 million dollar
Government development contract, Ford had agreed that all subcontractors
and contractors must;
"...Grant by way of an appropriate provision in each
subcontract, without additional consideration, of an irrevocable,
royalty-free license, in favor of the Government, to reproduce, or have
reproduced, for Governmental purposes, all of the parts, components, and/or
assemblies, furnished by each subcontractor."
This became a sticking point with several possible
subcontractors. Borg-Warner, for example, would not agree to these terms
so Ford had to seek other sources for CV joint, radiator and several other
components. Here is just one paragraph of the clause that had to be
agreed with to deal with the Government;
"Seller hereby grants to buyer and to the Government a
non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-transferable license to make,
have made, use and sell devices or methods of their manufacture embodying
any invention, discovery or improvement conceived or first reduced to
practice in the performance of this purchase order.".
(Data from: Ordnance Vehicle Project, Progress Report No. 4, Nov. 10,
1952, Ford Motor Co. Industrial Archives)
Jim Gilmore MVPA # 5843
Member Ist Michigan AOD Chapter MVPA
Great Lakes Chapter MVPA
Ohio Motor Pool Chapter MVPA
Red Ball Chapter MVPA
Ontario Military Vehicle Association
Midwest Military Vehicle Assocation
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