In 1893, Charles H. Morse of Chicago became prominently identified financially in the work. He consolidated in 1894 the several departments under one organization, known thereafter as Fairbanks, Morse & Company. Foreseeing the future development in the manufacture and use of gasoline for power this company began the building of a plant which has grown to be one of the largest of its kind in the world. Today the Beloit one is the largest of the seven factories of the Fairbanks, Morse & Company.

      A condensed description of the display of the company's products shown at Beloit in December, 1925, will disclose somewhat the extensiveness and variety of the line of its products. Three of the company's railroad motor cars were exhibited. These are used by signalmen, section foremen, bridge gangs and officials on road inspection trips. Furnished with six to ten horsepower gasoline engines they have a carrying capacity of ten men and a running speed of 35 miles an hour. The pumps, while now manufactured at Three Rivers, Michigan, were developed in Beloit and manufactured here until recently. They are, in consequence, inseparably associated with any history of the Beloit plant. These pumps, today, vary in size from the high-speed direct-connected centrifugal pump of one and a half inch capacity to the huge fifty-four inch screw pump which can be connected to a 180-horsepower Fairbanks, Morse & Company's oil engine. This large pump has a pumping capacity of 156,000 gallons per minute and is, therefore, able to empty two of the big oil tank cars in less than a minute's time. Numerous are the variety of pumps now produced and innumerable are their uses. Great pumps, used in sewerage disposal plants, pick up stones as large as a man's head, tin cans and trash of all sort. Others are used in handling, without injury, the sugar beets. Then there are those made for use in water plants, city, household, farm or golf course. No one, through this service of the company, need be without running water.

      Today the Beloit plant has revolutionized the manufacture of magnetos. Desiring a better magneto for its farm engines the company engaged Henry G. Cox, a magneto expert, to reorganize its magneto division. In consequence of his able efforts, supported by capable assistance, the company, today, places on the market a high-tension rotating magneto using also the company's own impulse coupling. Hereafter every Fairbanks, Morse engine using electric ignition will be equipped with the magneto made at the Beloit plant.

      Not only has the inventive genius of Mr. Cox won recognition but also his organizing ability in rearranging his department for the efficient manufacture of the improved magnetos. By a clever scientific grouping of the machinery and the use of an overhead conveyor, by means of which the parts are carried automatically to the operator the waste motion has been reduced to a minimum, resulting in a great saving in time and space. Specially designed machinery has also been perfected.

      The plant is most noted for its manufacture of engines. In consequence, a brief description of the engines exhibited will be enlightening. On the floor of the plant oil engines totaling more than 3,000 horsepower were seen in operation. There were 35 engines of 60-horsepower and over, ranging from the 10-horsepower Diesel marine engine to the great 720-horsepower unit-the "last, a six-cylinder single acting, port scavenging, airless injection Diesel." Engines were seen which are used in cotton gins, in municipal light plants, great irrigation projects, and in numerous marine services. From the manufacture of the semi-Diesel type, the Beloit plant has advanced now to the production of what is now known as the full Diesel. One of the very interesting line of products is that of the Z engines, ranging from two to twenty horsepower with their modifications to take care of every known need of the farmer and contractor. The Z engine furnishes the power for the standard light plants and home water systems. A Z engine is mounted on a 30-inch lawn. mower, while another one is used as a hoisting apparatus. Among the new products of the company are washing machines, feed grinders and new direct connected light plants.

      By a wonderful system of automatic conveyors, now miles in extent, over the factory, everything is timed so that the parts reach the operator at just the right moment and pass similarly on to the next workman. The engine, moving along the same conveyor, is tested, washed, painted, retested and crated for shipment. Fifteen working hours from the time the first rough casting is received at the beginning of the line, the completed engine is on the car and awaiting shipment. The conveyor system for the heavy engines is similar. No more complete system is found in any industrial plant in the country.

      The company has also one of the largest and most efficiently equipped foundries in the country. In securing this recent improvement to their factory the company utilized the practical experience of Robert J. Barr who continues as the highly capable superintendent of the foundry. The laboring and time saving devices employed here demonstrate again, not only the company's constant concern in the reduction of cost of production, but also their desire to conserve the strength and safeguard the health of its men.

      Humanely interested in its employees, the company has always kept in advance of the legal requirements regarding safety appliances and the care of the health of its men. Early it secured the services of Dr. C. F. Schram, a well trained factory physician and directed him to inaugurate a complete, first-aid hospital service within the plant. From time to time this has been developed scientifically until today the plant has its own visiting nurses, hospital for the immediate assistance and, best of all, a thoroughly practical system for the prevention of accidents and sickness. Every possible provision is furnished which will encourage greater attention to cleanliness and health on the part of the men and even their families. Thoroughly interested in the well-being of its employees, the company has provided within the plant recreational facilities. Nationally known baseball and basket-ball teams are maintained and the beginning of a 9-hole golf course has been made on the grounds belonging to the factory. A hall splendidly arranged, not only for the use of basket-ball but also for concerts and all kinds of gatherings, is on the second floor of the new building, housing on the first floor one of the most thoroughly fitted factory cafeterias and restaurants in the Middle West.

      While the plant today is a monument to the munificence and business sagacity first of the late Charles H. Morse, Sr., and more recently of his son, Charles Morse, Jr., its realization and present success are unquestionably due, in the greatest degree, to the organizing genius of its general manager, W. S. Hovey. Mr. Hovey, an honor man of Cornell University, came first to Beloit, after about fifteen years experience elsewhere, to become the manager of the local plant. With a remarkable steadiness, tact and persistency, Mr. Hovey began the readjustments seen necessary from time to time to fit the plant for its enlarging opportunities. Building always upon the accomplishments of his predecessors, appreciative of their real worth, he disclosed unusual constructive ability. Soon his charming personality and ability to advance equitably both the interests of the company and its employees won whole-hearted cooperation from both the company and the employees in every department of the plant. Through him and the helpful services of many department heads a Fairbanks-Morse loyalty has been established, which has now become nationally recognized as unusual. Advanced to the vice-presidency in charge of all production in all of the plants of the company, Mr. Hovey earned so merited a recognition of his services that he has been made general manager of all the departments of the company, both sales and production. He has just perfected a world-wide reorganization of the sales department of the company and the sales methods, and so connected it harmoniously with the plants engaged in the production as to make the present united organization of Fairbanks, Morse & Company the wonder and envy of its competitors. Towards this accomplishment numerous men have aided. Among these certainly must be mentioned F. G. Hobart, for thirty-six years connected with the company here and for many years its chief engineer; W. C. Heath, now manager of both the Beloit and Three Rivers plants; George Ingersoll, the capable secretary of the company; Lloyd Yost, now chief engineering adviser to General Manager Hovey, and Charles B. Janke, recently advanced to be chief engineer.

      Today, the plant covers over 105 acres of ground, with some 1,500,000 square feet of floor space under cover, and employs over 3,000 people in the Beloit plant alone. By the constancy of its growth and steadiness of the employment given to so many families of the city and its persistent practice of advancing its men, the company has become a great factor in the growth of the city.” (Quote from 1926.)

      Fairbanks, Morse began in 1885 and they acquired the Eclipse Windmill Co. and the Williams Engine Works in 1893.. In 1893, they were the first company to successfully market a gasoline engine in the United States. While the company is best known for their line of stationary gas engines, over the years, the company has manufactured a wide array of products including radios, washing machines, power mowers, water heaters, water softeners, air conditioners, storage batteries, diesel locomotives, diesel engines, generators, AC electric motors, farm equipment, magnetos, scales, stokers, railroad motor cars and standpipes.

History:

      Incorporated under the laws of Illinois, June, 1891, as successor to partnership of the same name. Sells scale products of E. & T. Fairbanks & Co. for which it has exclusive sale in the Western States; also manufactures oil engines, steam pumps and windmills, and deals in electrical equipment and railroad supplies.

      In January, 1916, Fairbanks, Morse & Co. made an offer to E. & T. Fairbanks & Co. to purchase that company’s outstanding stock by the exchange of three shares of its 6% cumulative preferred stock for each share of outstanding stock (par $500) of E. & T. Fairbanks & Co. This offer was accepted and E. & T. Fairbanks & Co. is now all owned by Fairbanks, Morse & Co.

      On Dec. 1, 1918, Fairbanks, Morse & Co. acquired the plants and business of the Sheffield Car Co. at Three Rivers, Mich., manufacturers of railway motor cars, and of Fairbanks-Morse Electrical Mfg. Co. of Indianapolis, Ind., manufacturers of electrical equipment. The entire capital stock of both these companies was acquired by exchange for shares of Fairbanks, Morse & Co. on the basis of comparative book values.

      In Nov., 1920, company acquired the entire business and assets, etc., of the Luster Machine Shop & Ry. Equip. Co., Philadelphia, Pa. A new branch has been opened there and company will sell complete lines of motors, engines, pumps, etc.

Management:

OFFICERS: C. H. Morse, Pres.; W. E. Miller, Vice-Pres. and Treas., Chicago, Ill.; H. J. Fuller, Vice-Pres., New York; R. H. Morse, Vice-Pres.; C. W. Pank, Vice-Pres.; W. S. Hovey, Vice-Pres.; F. M. Boughey, Sec., Chicago, Ill.

DIRECTORS: C. H. Morse, R. H. Morse, W. E. Miller, F. M. Boughey, Chicago, 111.; H. J. Fuller, J. J. Storrow, Boston.

ANNUAL MEETING: March 31, at Chicago.

HEAD OFFICE: Chicago; branches in principal cities of the West and in New York, London and Buenos Aires.

      Late 1950s address: Fairbanks-Morse Bldg. Chicago 5 IL.

      The company is still in business today manufacturing diesel and dual-fuel engines for industry.

Information Sources:

• The company web site has a History section.
• FM Axial Air Gap motor service manual.
• American Gasoline Engines Since 1872 by C. H. Wendel, ©1983, Volume #1, 1983 pages 158-167
• The Complete Guide to Stationary Gas Engines©1996, by Mark Meincke, 1996 pages 116-117
• Moody's Manual of Investments: American and Foreign, 1922, page 1534
• Fairbanks Morse, 100 Years of Engine Technology by C. H. Wendel, ©2009
• The Rock River Valley: Its History, Traditions, Legends and Charms, V1, 1926, pg. 415