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   Haynes Stellite Company   Hercules Body Company   Horton Manufacturing Company   Howe Fire Apparatus   J.D. Adams Company   Kokomo Spring Company   Magnavox  
Muncie Gear Works   Pierce Governor Company   Portland Forge and Foundry   Reliance Manufacturing Company   Republic Aviation Corporation - Indiana Division   Ross Gear and Tool Company   S.F. Bowser & Co.   Sherrill Research Corporation   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   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   B.F. Goodrich   Baker War Industries   Baldwin Locomotive Works   Blood Brothers Machine Company   Boyertown Auto Body Works   Briggs & Stratton   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   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   Hill Diesel Company   Holland Hitch Company   Homelite Company   Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation   Huffman Manufacturing   Indian Motorcycle   Ingersoll Steel and Disk   John Deere   Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company   Kimberly-Clark   Kohler Company   Kold-Hold Company   Landers, Frary & Clark  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   Queen City Manufacturing Company   R.G. LeTourneau   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   Youngstown Steel Door Company  
   

 Novo Engine Company in World War Two
Lansing, MI
1880 - 1890 as Cady & Glassbrook
1890 - 1906 as Hildreth Manufacturing Company
1906-1954  as Novo Engine Company

This page added 4-13-2022.

In the early 20th Century, the Novo Engine Company of Lansing, MI was a large and significant producer of gasoline engines and pumps that were sold on a world-wide basis.  It was a continuation of both the Cady & Glassbrook Company and the Hildreth Manufacturing Company, which were producing engines with the Novo trade name.  In 1906 Clarence E. Bement purchased the Hildreth Manufacturing Company and renamed it Novo Engine Company.  The company made engines for a variety of uses.  These included pumping, sawing, hoisting, electrical generator sets, and air compressors.  It also built pumps for use with its engines. 

This is another one of the Lansing companies of which I was unaware until I began exploring Lansing's contribution to the winning of World War Two.  While the company was very successful in the early half of the 20th Century, World War Two was its last hurrah.  In 1949 it filed for bankruptcy and hoped to reorganize.  Instead it was sold off to two different companies.  In March 1950 the Novo Engine Company's foundry was sold to the Detroit Gray Iron Foundry for $102,000 in Federal Court.  In December 1950 the main 170,000 square foot machining and assembly plant was sold to the Schott family of Cincinnati, OH for $630,000.  The intention of the Schott family was to increase production at the plant and increase employment.  However, the days of the Novo engine were in the past, and in 1954 the Detroit Gray Iron Foundry purchased it from the Schott family.  The Novo Engine Company was gone.  The reason I was unaware of Novo Engine Company until 2021, is that in 1954 I had not yet started grade school.

The 170,000 square foot plant that was located on five acres was subdivided among other companies in the succeeding years  and still exists today.  The buildings have been well maintained and the American Tooling Center is the main, and maybe the sole occupant of the facility.  See my photos of the plant in "Novo Plant" section below.


This 1919 Novo engine ran on gasoline, kerosene, and natural gas.  It is on display at the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum in Lansing, MI.  Author's photo. 


This was a four-stroke water cooled engine that produced 4hp @ 475 rpm.  Author's photo. 


Author's photo. 

Novo Company World War Two Production:  The company had five hundred employees during World War Two who produced $3,959,000 of pumps for the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Army.  This amount does not include any sub-contracting work it did for other companies. 

Table 6 - Novo Engine Company's Major World War Two Contracts
The information below comes from the "Alphabetical Listing of Major War Supply Contracts, June 1940 through September 1945."  This was published by the Civilian Production Administration, Industrial Statistics Division. 
Product - Customer Contract Amount Contract Awarded Completion Date
Engines - Treasury $228,000 1-1942 6-1942
Engines - Treasury $228,000 1-1942 5-1942
Pumps - Army $83,000 10-1942 1-1943
Engines Gasoline - Army $477,000 12-1942 6-1943
Pumps - Army $138,000 2-1943 11-1943
Engine Assemblies - Army $378,000 4-1943 8-1943
Centrifugal Pumps - Army $140,000 6-1943 6-1944
Pumps - Army $137,000 7-1943 11-1944
Centrifugal Pumps - Army $216,00 9-1943 11-1944
Engines - Army $91,000 10-1943 8-1944
Gasoline Engines - Army $76,000 11-1943 9-1944
Gasoline Engines - Army $96,000 11-1943 9-1944
Gasoline Engines - Army $81,000 11-1943 10-1944
Diaphragm Pumps - Army $163,000 11-1943 12-1944
Centrifugal Pumps - Army $632,000 5-1944 12-1945
Engineers Equipment - Army $88,000 12-1944 12-1945
Centrifugal Pumps - Army $282,000 1-1945 12-1945
Diaphragm Pumps - Army $425,000 1-1945 12-1945
Total $3,959,000    

The Novo Plant:  The historical record indicates that Novo moved to this location in 1912.  Today the plant is still in existence. 



This Sanborn shows the Novo Engine Company's main plant in 1951.  This is when it was owned by the Schott Family.  The plant would have looked very similar to this during World War Two.


This current Google Maps satellite view shows that the former Novo factory still exists just as it did in 1951. 


This is looking at the south side of the former Novo plant.  It is now the American Tooling Center.  The street used to be Sheridan Street.  It is now Oakland Avenue and is one-way west.  Author's photo.


This photo is at the north end of the complex at the corner of Porter and Cass Streets.  Cass Street used to run to the south along the building.  The original brick has been painted over and the windows partially covered up.  The building is in excellent condition.  Author's photo.


This is the east side of the former Novo plant complex along Ballard Street.  Near the left of the photo, a small section of the original red brick building can be seen.  Author's photo. 


This is that area.  Author's photo. 


This is the east end of the south building.  To the right part of the photo, more original brick can be seen.  Author's photo.


The original brick of the former Novo Engine Company can be seen in this photo.  Author's photo.

 

 

 

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