Gilson Brothers Co. was a Wisconsin-based manufacturer of outdoor power equipment and recreational equipment. It operated independently between its inception in 1911 until acquisition by

Lawn-Boy Lawn-Boy is a brand of lawn mower, originally manufactured by the Evinrude Company in 1934 and owned since 1989 by Toro. It was the first one-handed reel power mower{{what, What is a "one-handed reel power mower"?, date=December 2021 introduce ...

in 1988. The company was probably most well known for its garden tillers, snowblowers and garden tractors produced from the 1960s through the 1980s.

History

John P. Gilson and his brother Michael Gilson were descendants of Theodore Gilson, who had emigrated to the United States from

Colmar-Berg Colmar-Berg ( lb, Colmer-Bierg, german: Colmar-Berg) is a commune and town in central Luxembourg, in the canton of Mersch. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Attert and Alzette. Colmar-Berg is the site of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg' ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

and, in 1850, started what eventually became the Gilson Manufacturing Company. Brothers John and Michael, having both worked for that company, started the Gilson Brothers Company in 1911. At that time, the Gilson Brothers' main products were limestone grinders, feed cutters, and

concrete mixer A concrete mixer (often colloquially called a cement mixer) is a device that homogeneously combines cement, aggregate such as sand or gravel, and water to form concrete. A typical concrete mixer uses a revolving drum to mix the components. For ...

s. In 1988, Gilson Brothers Co. was acquired by

, which was itself acquired by the Toro company in the following year. It was at this point that production of Gilson-branded lawn and snow equipment ceased. The Gilson line of concrete mixers was sold to the Cleform company of Missouri, which was acquired in 2010 by the

Marshalltown Company Marshalltown Company is a privately held American manufacturer of construction tools and equipment used for archaeology, asphalt, concrete, drywall, EIFS, flooring, masonry, painting, plastering, stucco, tile, and wallpaper based in Marshalltown, ...

Marshalltown, Iowa Marshalltown is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, Iowa, United States, located along the Iowa River. It is the seat and most populous settlement of Marshall County and the 16th largest city in Iowa, with a population of 27,591 at ...

. As of January 2011, that company still sells concrete mixers under the Gilson name.

Products

Gilson Brothers Co. has produced a wide range of products, including: *

Crusher A crusher is a machine designed to reduce large rocks into smaller rocks, gravel, sand or rock dust. Crushers may be used to reduce the size, or change the form, of waste materials so they can be more easily disposed of or recycled, or to redu ...

s *

Rotary tiller A cultivator is a piece of agricultural equipment used for secondary tillage. One sense of the name refers to frames with ''teeth'' (also called ''shanks'') that pierce the soil as they are dragged through it linearly. It also refers to m ...

s *Feed cutters *Concrete mixers *

Minibike A minibike is a two-wheeled, motorized, off-highway recreational vehicle popularized in the 1960s and 1970s, but available continuously from a wide variety of manufacturers since 1959. Their off-highway nature and (in many countries) typically enti ...

s *

Snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...

s *

Barbecue grill A barbecue grill or barbeque grill (known as a barbecue or barbie in Australia and New Zealand) is a device that cooks food by applying heat from below. There are several varieties of grills, with most falling into one of three categories: gas-fu ...

s *

Snowblower A snow blower or snow thrower is a machine for removing snow from an area where it is problematic, such as a driveway, sidewalk, roadway, railroad track, ice rink, or runway. The commonly used term "snow blower" is a misnomer, as the snow is ...

s and snowthrowers *Lawn and garden

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commonly, ...

s * Tillers Those Gilson Brothers products that were sold under the Gilson brand were typically painted with the company's signature beige-and-crimson color scheme, starting in 1977 they used crimson-and-black. Gilson Brothers products were also re-branded and sold under the names

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

, Lawn-Boy,

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

, Snow Charger, Wizard, Plymouth, Marshall Wells, and others. Most Gilson snowblowers were powered by

Briggs and Stratton Briggs & Stratton Corporation is an American manufacturer of gasoline engines with headquarters in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Engine production averages 10 million units per year as of April 2015. The company reports that it has 13 large facilit ...

engines.

UniTrol

UniTrol (or Uni-Trol) was a patented Gilson Brothers innovation in snowblower drive linkage that allows operation of the clutch and gearchange with a single lever. It was introduced in 1969 and was available on Gilson snowblowers until 1979. When a UniTrol snowblower is running, the engine is always turning a drive platter. The act of engaging a gear presses a rubber-edged wheel against the flat steel surface of the spinning platter, which transfers power through 90 degrees to the drive axle and at a ratio inversely proportional to the distance from the center of the platter at which the wheel is engaged. A neutral "gear" is available by simply lifting the wheel from the surface of the platter, and a reverse gear is available by engaging the wheel at a symmetric point across the center of the platter. The style of baffle used in the single-speed UniTrol snowblowers was also patented for its unique design.

Snow Cannon

The "Snow Cannon" was the Gilson line of compact snow throwers, for which a patent was granted in 1980.{{cite patent , country=US , number=4203237 , status=patent , title=Snowblower , gdate=1980-05-20 , fdate=1978-06-15 These machines were powered by

two-stroke engines A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of t ...

(manufactured either by Briggs & Stratton,

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy an ...

or OMC (Outboard Marine Corp). The throwing mechanism on the Snow Cannon machines was advertised with the marketing term "TURBO-THRUST".

References

External links

The Gilson Snowblower Shop
Manufacturing companies established in 1911 Lawn and garden tractors Snowmobile manufacturers 1911 establishments in Wisconsin Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1989 1989 disestablishments in Wisconsin Defunct manufacturing companies based in Wisconsin