For generations Briggs & Stratton have been the top choice in power for outdoor power equipment. People all over the world have come to depend on their engines to get the job done. Briggs & Stratton can now offer a line of power products that bear the Briggs & Stratton Power Products brand.

Over the years they have taken the leadership position in undertaking research to better understand the markets for power products. They have used this insight to put together a line up of products that are designed to meet the varying needs of the market place.

They are proud to provide you with a selection of engine powered products in the following categories.

GENERATORS

WATER PUMPS

They are the world's largest producer of air-cooled gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment. They design, manufacture, market and service these engines for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide. Their engines are incorporated into products for both the consumer market and industrial/commercial applications.

Markets
The lawn and garden equipment industry is our largest market, accounting for 84% of fiscal 2001 OEM engine sales. They provide an engine for virtually every use in this industry requiring 3 through 34 horsepower. Their customers install our engines on walk-behind and riding lawn mowers, garden tillers and shredders, the largest lawn and garden product categories. Briggs & Stratton engines also power garden tractors, lawn edgers, commercial lawn cutting products, golf course maintenance equipment and a host of other applications.

The remaining 16% of OEM engine sales in fiscal 2001 were to manufacturers of other powered equipment including generators, pumps, pressure washers and a wide variety of other items, primarily for commercial applications in the construction and agricultural markets.

Today approximately 75% of lawn and garden equipment sales to the consumer market in North America are through mass merchandisers. This concentration of purchasing power continues to put great price pressure on equipment manufacturers and their suppliers.

Consumers worldwide continue to recognize the quality and performance designed and built into their engines. The presence of their brand name on the product has a positive influence on the purchase interest of the consumer. Consequently many retailers specify Briggs & Stratton engines on the powered equipment they sell. Briggs & Stratton engines are marketed under various brand names including Classic™, Sprint™, Quattro™, Quantum®,INTEK®, I/C®, Diamond I/C, Industrial Plus™ and Vanguard™.

The majority of their OEM Engines are sold in the United States and Canada by our own sales force through direct calls on customers. Engineers at their Application Center and our marketing staff, both in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, provide support and technical assistance.

In fiscal 2001, exports accounted for 25% of all engine and part sales. Briggs & Stratton is a well accepted supplier of gasoline engines in developed countries where there are established lawn and garden markets. They also export to developing countries where our engines are used in agricultural, marine and other applications. With the exception of most major countries where sales of OEMs are handled by direct customer contact, independent representatives are responsible for international sales. They are assisted by personnel from our regional offices.

Manufacturing
Briggs & Stratton manufactures engines and parts at the following locations in the United States: Wauwatosa, Wisconsin; Murray, Kentucky; Poplar Bluff and Rolla, Missouri; Auburn, Alabama; and Statesboro, Georgia. The Company has a parts distribution center in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. The Company believes that it has adequate capacity to meet its currently anticipated production needs.

Briggs & Stratton manufactures a majority of the structural components used in its engines, including aluminum die castings and a high percentage of other major components, such as carburetors and ignition systems. The Company purchases certain finished standard commercial parts such as piston rings, spark plugs, valves, ductile and grey iron castings, zinc die castings and plastic components, some stampings and screw machine parts and smaller quantities of other components. Raw material purchases are principally for aluminum, iron and steel. The Company believes its sources of supply are adequate.

The Company has joint ventures with Daihatsu Motor Company for the manufacture of engines in Japan, with Puling Machinery Works and Yimin Machinery Plant for the production of engines in China, and with Starting Industrial of Japan for the production of rewind starters in the U.S. The Company also has a joint venture in India. Hero Briggs & Stratton is a joint venture with Hero Motors, part of the Hero Group, for the manufacture of engines and transmissions to be used in two wheel transportation vehicles.

The Company has a strategic relationship with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for the international distribution of engines for outdoor power equipment manufactured by MHI in Japan.

History

Briggs & Stratton Corporation, with headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is the world's largest manufacturer of air-cooled gasoline engines.

The company, which is celebrating its 88th anniversary, did not reach this pinnacle easily nor directly. During its history it has pursued products as diverse as electric refrigerators, battery eliminators, and coin-operated paper towel dispensing machines.

Surprisingly, it is a variation of the company's first product that currently accounts for more than 90 percent of sales.

This first product was a six-cylinder, two-cycle engine of the type Stephen Foster Briggs had developed during his engineering courses at South Dakota State College. After his graduation in 1907, he was eager to produce his engine and enter the rapidly expanding automobile industry. Bill Juneau, a coach at South Dakota State, knew of Briggs' ambition and the entrepreneurial interests of Harold Mead Stratton, a successful grain merchant who had a farm next to Juneau's farm.

Steve Briggs and Harry Stratton were introduced, and with that introduction, Briggs & Stratton was born.

The company's first product, the six-cylinder, two-cycle engine, proved too costly for quantity production as was the second product, an automobile called the Superior, which was assembled from purchased parts. Two touring cars and one roadster later, the partners were out of money and out of the automobile business. However, they were not out of the automobile supplier industry, for on February 22, 1909, Briggs had filed a patent for a gas engine igniter to replace the existing magneto ignition system in automobiles. The patent was granted February 22, 1910. The gas engine igniter, which included an induction coil, interruption device and distributor in a single mechanism, gave a single sharp spark like a magneto.

By 1920, Briggs & Stratton was widely recognized as a major producer of electrical specialties, which included the switch apparatus and starting mechanisms as well as various cut-outs and regulators.

Another significant boost to sales was the popularity of a product called the Motor Wheel. In 1919, Briggs & Stratton acquired the patents and manufacturing sales rights to the A.O. Smith Motor Wheel and the Flyer, a buckboard-like vehicle powered by the Motor Wheel. Briggs & Stratton re-engineered the 1-1/2 horsepower Type "C" Smith Motor Wheel into a 2 horsepower Type "D" Briggs & Stratton Motor Wheel.

The Motor Wheel, originally designed for use on bicycles, could easily be attached to any standard bicycle. It also provided the power for one of the first American-made motor scooters.

Railroads used the Motor Wheel to "entirely eliminate the back-breaking action of pumping a railway speedster." With the wheel in place, the speedsters, or railway inspection cars, moved along the tracks at 20 miles per hour.

Other uses included a towing device for ice skaters and power for sleds, creating an early version of the snowmobile.

From its experience with the Motor Wheel, Briggs & Stratton found that a stationary version of the Wheel was a power source with many applications. A 1 horsepower portable (P) engine provided popular and compact power sources for lawn mowers, garden tractors and washing machines.

Washing machines remained the major market for Briggs & Stratton cast iron engines until World War II. As electric power was introduced to rural America, the use of gasoline engines for washing machines dwindled.

While there's a tendency to emphasize sales of engines for washing machines in recalling the company's early years, Briggs & Stratton engines also found use on refrigerators, concrete mixers, milking machines, small compressors, net lifters, paint spraying equipment, portable saws, electrical generators, centrifugal pumps and various types of elevators as well as lawn mowers. Many of Briggs & Stratton's earliest customers are still customers today.

By the late 1940s, Briggs & Stratton was recognized as one of the largest manufacturers of small gasoline engines used on home and farm equipment. After World War II, it also set out to capture an increased share of the growing market for lawn and garden equipment brought about by the post-war boom. It ultimately achieved this goal, with the Briggs & Stratton name becoming almost synonymous with "lawn mower."

The emerging market for powered lawn and garden equipment was due in part to the advent of the inexpensive rotary lawn mower. Many of these rotary mowers were powered by two-cycle engines, which weighed only 15 pounds.

In 1948, the Briggs & Stratton Engineering Department requested permission to begin work on a die cast aluminum engine to meet the need for a lightweight, four-cycle engine for the small rotary lawn mower. They were well aware of the potentials of aluminum as an engine material. The Briggs & Stratton aluminum die cast engine was introduced in July 1953, and was immediately accepted by customers, who said in essence: "If Briggs & Stratton says it's good, and it's willing to build and sell an aluminum engine, it's good."

Competitors also thought it was good. Although the die cast technique for the manufacture of four-cycle engines made in both horizontal and vertical shaft versions was the subject of a U.S. patent granted to Briggs & Stratton in 1954, the technique was quickly adopted as the standard for the industry.

Since the introduction of the aluminum alloy engine in 1954, Briggs & Stratton has been providing a constant stream of product initiatives to provide consumers with even more value in the power for their power equipment.