The American Automobile Industry in World War Two
An American Auto Industry Heritage Tribute by David D Jackson

 Overview      Lansing Michigan in World War Two   The U.S. Auto Industry at the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944    The U.S. Auto Industry and the B-29 Bomber   U.S. Auto Industry Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   The Complete listing of All Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   Sherman Tanks of the American Auto Industry   Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry    M26 Pershing Tanks of the American Auto Industry   M36 Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry   Serial Numbers for WWII Tanks built by the American Auto Industry   Surviving LCVP Landing Craft    WWII Landing Craft Hull Numbers   Airborne Extra-Light Jeep Photos  The American Auto Industry vs. the German V-1 in WWII   American Auto Industry-Built Anti-Aircraft Guns in WWII   VT Proximity Manufacturers of WWII   World War One Era Motor Vehicles   National Museum of Military Vehicles   Revisions   Links

 Automobile and Body Manufacturers:  American Bantam Car Company   Briggs Manufacturing Company   Checker Car Company   Chrysler Corporation   Crosley Corporation   Ford Motor Car Company   General Motors Corporation   Graham-Paige Motors Corporation   Hudson Motor Car Company   Murray Corporation of America   Nash-Kelvinator   Packard Motor Car Company      Studebaker    Willys-Overland Motors

General Motors Divisions:  AC Spark Plug   Aeroproducts   Allison   Brown-Lipe-Chapin   Buick   Cadillac   Chevrolet   Cleveland Diesel   Delco Appliance   Delco Products   Delco Radio   Delco-Remy   Detroit Diesel   Detroit Transmission   Electro-Motive   Fisher Body   Frigidaire   GM Proving Grounds   GM of Canada   GMC   GMI   Guide Lamp   Harrison Radiator   Hyatt Bearings   Inland   Moraine Products   New Departure   Oldsmobile   Packard Electric   Pontiac   Saginaw Malleable Iron   Saginaw Steering Gear   Southern California Division   Rochester Products   Ternstedt Manufacturing Division   United Motors Service   Vauxhall Motors

 Indiana Companies:  Bailey Products Corporation   Chrysler Kokomo Plant   Continental Steel Corporation  Converto Manufacturing    Cummins Engine Company   Diamond Chain and Manufacturing Company   Delta Electric Company   Durham Manufacturing Company   Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation   General Electric Kokomo Plant   Haynes Stellite Company   Hercules Body Company   Horton Manufacturing Company   Howe Fire Apparatus   International Machine Tool Company   J.D. Adams Company   Kokomo Spring Company   Magnavox   Muncie Gear Works   Pierce Governor Company   Portland Forge and Foundry   Reliance Manufacturing Company-Kokomo Plant   Reliance Manufacturing Company-Washington Plant   Republic Aviation Corporation - Indiana Division   Ross Gear and Tool Company   S.F. Bowser & Co.   Sherrill Research Corporation   Sullivan Machinery Company   Tokheim Oil Tank and Pump Company   Warner Gear   Wayne Pump Company   Wayne Works

Commercial Truck and Fire Apparatus Manufacturers:  American LaFrance   Autocar   Biederman Motors Corporation   Brockway Motor Company   Detroit General   Diamond T   Duplex Truck Company   Federal Motor Truck   Four Wheel Drive Auto Company(FWD)   International Harvester   John Bean   Mack Truck   Marmon-Herrington Company   Michigan Power Shovel Company   Oshkosh Motor Truck Corporation   Pacific Car and Foundry   "Quick-Way" Truck Shovel Company  Reo Motor Car Company  Seagrave Fire Apparatus   Sterling Motor Truck Company    Ward LaFrance Truck Corporation   White Motor Company

Aviation Companies:  Abrams Instrument Corporation    Frankfort Sailplane Company   Hughes Aircraft Company   Kellett Aviation Corporation   Laister-Kauffman Aircraft Corporation   Naval Aircraft Factory   P-V Engineering Forum, Inc.    Rudolf Wurlitzer Company-DeKalb Division  Schweizer Aircraft Corporation   Sikorsky Division of United Aircraft Corporation   St. Louis Aircraft Corporation   Timm Aircraft Corporation

Other World War Two Manufacturers:  Air King Products   Allis-Chalmers   American Car and Foundry   American Locomotive   American Stove Company   Annapolis Yacht Yard   Andover Motors Company   Badger Meter Manufacturing Company   B.F. Goodrich   Baker War Industries   Baldwin Locomotive Works   Blood Brothers Machine Company   Boyertown Auto Body Works   Briggs & Stratton   Burke Electric Company   Caterpillar   Cheney Bigelow Wire Works   Centrifugal Fusing   Chris-Craft   Clark Equipment Company   Cleaver-Brooks Company   Cleveland Tractor Company   Continental Motors   Cushman Motor Works   Crocker-Wheeler   Dail Steel Products   Detroit Wax Paper Company   Detrola   Engineering & Research Corporation   Farrand Optical Company   Federal Telephone and Radio Corp.   Firestone Tire and Rubber Company   Fruehauf Trailer Company   Fuller Manufacturing   Galvin Manufacturing   Gemmer Manufacturing Company   General Railway Signal Company   Gerstenslager Company   Gibson Guitar   Gibson Refrigerator Company   Goodyear   Hall-Scott   Hanson Clutch and Machinery Company   Harley-Davidson   Harris-Seybold-Potter   Herreshoff Manufacturing Company   Higgins Industries    Highway Trailer Corporation  Hill Diesel Company   Holland Hitch Company   Homelite Company   Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation   Huffman Manufacturing   Indian Motorcycle   Ingersoll Steel and Disk   Iron Fireman Manufacturing Company   John Deere   Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company   Kimberly-Clark   Kohler Company   Kold-Hold Company   Landers, Frary & Clark   Le Roi Company  Lima Locomotive Works   Lundberg Screw Products   MacKenzie Muffler Company   Massey-Harris   Matthews Company   McCord Radiator & Mfg. Company   Metal Mouldings Corporation   Miller Printing Machinery Company   Morse Instrument Company   Motor Products Corporation   Motor Wheel Corporation   National Cash Resgister Company   Novo Engine Company   O'Keefe & Merritt Company   Olofsson Tool and Die Company   Oneida Ltd   Otis Elevator   Owens Yacht   Pressed Steel Car Company   Pressed Steel Tank Company   Queen City Manufacturing Company   R.G. LeTourneau   Richardson Boat Company   R.L. Drake Company   St. Clair Rubber Company   Samson United Corporation   Shakespeare Company   Sight Feed Generator Company   Simplex Manufacturing Company   Steel Products Engineering Company   St. Louis Car Company   Twin Disc Company   Victor Adding Machine Company   Vilter Manufacturing Company   Wells-Gardner   W.L. Maxson Corporation   W.W. Boes Company   Westfield Manufacturing Company   York-Hoover Body Company   York-Shipley, Inc.   Youngstown Steel Door Company  
   

Delco Appliance Division of General Motors in World War Two
Rochester, NY
1908-1963

This page updated 9-26-2021.

Originally established as the Rochester Coil Company in 1908, the company began manufacturing coils and repairing electric motors. It was reorganized into the Northeast Electric Company in 1908.  Its first new product was a combined starter and generator available in 1911.  Northeast was  purchased by General Motors in 1929 and was consolidated with Delco Light Division in Dayton in 1930 to become Delco Appliance Division.  When Delco Light products were moved to Rochester, NY from Dayton, OH in 1963, Delco Appliance was merged into Delco Products.


Delco Appliance Division of GM World War Two Products:
Aircraft:  Solenoid Shifters that controlled the hydraulic unit that changes gears on an aircraft supercharger, Aneroid Switch that controlled the gear changes as an aircraft went through altitude changes, and the Aneroid that automatically controlled the air flow from the supercharger.  The division also built aircraft magnetos.

Naval:  Engine cutout switches for the Packard engines that were used in PT and 63-foot, 85-foot, and 104-foot rescue boats. 

Motors:  15,000 motors for F-20 aerial reconnaissance cameras, radio transmitter twin blowers, lamp housing blowers, fire control motors, computer motors, antenna-driving motors, general purpose torque motors, periscope gun sight motors, aerial camera motors, gun charger timer motors, bombsight motors, automatic pilot motors, and gyroscope gun sight motors

Gun Directors: M5 Gun Directors for use with U.S. Army 37mm and 40mm anti-antiaircraft guns.

Auxiliary Generators:  Delco Appliance furnished auxiliary generators for 2,074 M5 and 6,819 M5A1 Stuart Light Tanks.  It also supplied 1,778 auxiliary generators for the M8 self-propelled 75mm howitzer gun carriage built on the Stuart chassis.  The division also supplied 7,225 auxiliary generators for the LVT-1 tracked landing craft.



The Delco Appliance Division won the Army-Navy "E" Award four times.

The first award was presented on September 22, 1943.


This M45 Quad Mount is on display at Roberts Armory in Rochelle, IL.  Of interest in this photo is the generator that was used to charge two six volt batteries wired in series which powered the gun turret.  The original M45 Quad Mounts were equipped with a Briggs & Stratton PC-1 generator.  In this particular case, Roberts Armory has replaced the PC-1 with a Delco Appliance auxiliary generator from its M5A1 Stuart tank.  The Delco Appliance part number is either a DA5066666 or DA5067720, depending on when the M5A1 was built.  Author's photo added 6-3-2021.


The use of this Delco Appliance auxiliary generator in the M45 Quad Mount allows for a full view of the device.  Author's photo added 6-3-2021.


Author's photo added 6-3-2021.


Author's photo added 6-3-2021.


Author's photo added 6-3-2021.

The following pages are from the Ordnance Supply Catalog for the M5/M5A1 light tank.  The pages show the Delco Appliance part numbers used in the generator and gasoline engine. 


Image added 6-3-2021.


This listing shows that DA5066666 was used in Stuart tanks with serial numbers 1 through 800, 2268 through 2368, and 3268 through 3367.  Delco Appliance part number DA5067720 was used in Stuart tanks with serial numbers 801 through 2267, 2369 through 3267, and 3268 and up.  Image added 6-3-2021.


Image added 6-3-2021.


Image added 6-3-2021.


Image added 6-3-2021.


Image added 6-3-2021.


This is the M5A1 Stuart light tank at Roberts Armory from which the Delco Appliance auxiliary generator was taken for the M45 Quad Mount.  Delco Appliance built 8,893 auxiliary generators for the M5/M5A1 series of light tanks.  Author's photo added 6-3-2021.


The M8 self-propelled 75mm howitzer gun carriage was built on the M5 chassis.  Delco Appliance also supplied 1,778 auxiliary generators for this vehicle.  Author's photo added 6-3-2021. 


This World War Two magazine ad associates the M5 tank and Delco Appliance generators.  The term "Little Joe" was a generic term used by World War Two soldiers for any small generator that provided electrical power.  The ad notes that the Delco Appliance generator derives from the line of home lighting generators originally produced by the Delco-Light Division of General Motors.


Delco Appliance supplied Delco Light 7,225 auxiliary generators that were used on USMC and U.S. Army LVT-1 amphibious vehicles.  This was Delco Appliance model number 5067440.  Author's photo added 2-10-2019.


This is the rear view of the Delco Appliance auxiliary generator 5067440.  Image added 9-26-2021. 


Delco Appliance had previous experience building small generators for farm lighting when it combined with the Electric-Light Division of GM.  This example is at Carillon Park in Dayton, OH.  Author's photo added 7-28-2021. 


One application of Delco Appliance World War Two products is an automatic ignition cut-out used on Packard-built PT boat engines.  At high speed in rough waters, the propellers could come out of the water.  This could cause the engines to over rev.  The Delco Appliance device prevented this.  This one is at the National War in the Pacific Museum in Fredericksburg, TX.


American PT boats like Higgins Industries PT-305 would have the Delco Appliance engine cutout on the Packard engines.  Author's photo added 2-10-2019.


This Eastman Kodak K-24 aerial reconnaissance camera is on display at the Museum of Military History in Kissimmee, Fl.  The motor in the upper left of the camera was built by Delco Appliance.  Author's photo added 7-28-2021.


The camera was used in many American aircraft including the photo reconnaissance versions of the B-24, P-51, and B-25.  Author's photo added 7-28-2021.


Eastman Kodak and Delco Appliance were both located in Rochester, NY.  It only made good business sense for Kodak to utilize Delco Appliance to provide the fractional horsepower motors to advance the film in the camera.  Author's photo added 7-28-2021.


The motor was Delco Number 7524 and Eastman Number U7694.  Author's photo added 7-28-2021.


Delco Appliance is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, OH.  It is part of a display on photo reconnaissance and photo interpretation.  Author's photo added 9-26-2021.


A Delco Appliance fractional horsepower motor is mounted to this Fairchild F-20 aerial camera.  Folmer Graflex built approximately 15,000 of these cameras under license from Fairchild.  Author's photo added 9-26-2021.


  Author's photo added 9-26-2021.


Author's photo added 9-26-2021.


  Author's photo added 9-26-2021.


Delco Appliance was one of at least two manufacturers that produced the M5 Gun Director for use with 37mm and 40mm anti-antiaircraft guns used by the US Army.


Photo added 2-10-2019.

Geared for War 'til Victory


Motors:  Radio transmitter twin blower, lamp housing blower, fire control motor, computer motor, antenna-driving motor, general purpose torque motor, periscope gun sight motor, aerial camera motor, gun charger timer motor, bombsight motor, automatic pilot motor and gyroscope gun sight motor

 

 

 

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