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-driven 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 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 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. During
World War I, the company built five hundred and eighty 80-foot
submarine chasers (aka
Motor Launches) for the
British Admiralty, 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
Bayonne, New Jersey. Nearly 400 Elco
PT boats were produced for the U.S. Navy. After experimentation, the first 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. (right) with crew of
PT-109 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, 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, under
John Jay Hopkins. In 1949, Electric Boat decided to focus on government contracts for submarines, and Elco was closed until 1987. ==Today==