Hercules Corporation
Hercules Corporation was an American manufacturer of engines and car bodies Commercial vehicles.
History
William Harvey McCurdy founded the Brighton Buggy Company in 1894 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He made carriages. In 1900 the factory became too small. McCurdy began construction of a larger plant in Evansville, Indiana. 1902 saw the move into the work. The company name was now Hercules Buggy Company, which produced bodies for motor vehicles. Between 1906 and 1909 created vehicles for Sears.
On November 8, 1912, the Hercules Gas Engine Company was founded. Customers were Ajax, Arco, Atlas, Champion, Economy, Erren, Hercules, Jaeger, Keystone, Reeco, Rohaco, Thermoil and Williams. With engine production in 1934 caused about up to 400,000 gasoline engines. In 1919, an electric car was produced called Hercules Electric, but remained a prototype. On November 23, 1920, McCurdy merged its individual companies into Hercules Corporation. William H. McCurdy was president, John D. Craft vice president and manager, Lynn McCurdy second vice president, treasurer and sales manager, and Frank G. Cowan secretary.
In 1920, Lynn McCurdy, the founder's son, visited the Indianapolis Automobile Show. There he became aware of a prototype of Guard Gale. He took over the project, hired Garde Gale as general sales manager of his automobile division and announced in December 1921 production for 1922. The brand name was now McCurdy. In the same year the production ended. In total, between two and seven vehicles were created. At least two were sold. The prototype of Guard Gale was the Gale Four with a four-cylinder engine. The McCurdy, had a six-cylinder engine from the Continental Motors Company. Parts for the chassis were also purchased. The wheelbase was 323 cm. The vehicles were body worked as open touring cars. The original price is called both $2095 and $ 2500
Significantly more important to the company was the production of coaches, gasoline engines and bodies for commercial vehicles and passenger cars. So, in 1922, delivered 84,000 coaches, 62,000 petrol engines and 40,000 bodies.
In 1957, George Caddick took over the company and reorganized. The successor company was called Hercules Manufacturing Company and had its headquarters in Henderson, Kentucky.
