Hall-Scott
Encyclopedia
Hall-Scott was a Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

-based manufacturing company. It was among the most significant builders of water-cooled aircraft engines prior to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

1910–1921

The company was initially founded in 1910 by Californians Elbert J. Hall and Bert C. Scott to manufacture petrol-powered rail cars
Railcar
A railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...

. Hall was the engineer while Scott was the business executive. They produced their first rail car in 1909, and the newly named Hall-Scott Motor Car Company was launched with manufacturing in Berkeley, California in 1910 and with headquarters in San Francisco. The rail car business was slow, but some were sold as far away as China. Interurban electric railway cars were built for railroads such as the electrified Sacramento Northern
Sacramento Northern Railway
←The Sacramento Northern Railway was originally a electric interurban railway linking Chico in northern California to the California capitol of Sacramento The original name of the line was the Chico Electric Railway, or CERY. CERY was sold after a few months of operation to the Northern Electric...

 which ran trains from adjacent Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

 to Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

 and Chico
Chico, California
Chico is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. The population was 86,187 at the 2010 census, up from 59,954 at the time of the 2000 census...

.

Hall-Scott also manufactured aero engines for both commercial and military aviation. These engines possessed a remarkable for the era power-to-weight ratio using an overhead cam
Overhead camshaft
Overhead cam valvetrain configurations place the engine camshaft within the cylinder heads, above the combustion chambers, and drive the valves or lifters in a more direct manner compared to overhead valves and pushrods...

 and hemispherical combustion chamber
Hemi engine
A Hemi engine is an internal combustion engine in which the roof of each cylinder's combustion chambers is of hemispherical form.- History :...

. Their engines also benefited from manufacturing cost efficiency by sharing parts and dimensions between types. Hall and Scott both became associated with the design and manufacture of the famous "Liberty
Liberty L-12
The Liberty L-12 was a 27 litre water-cooled 45° V-12 aircraft engine of 400 horsepower designed both for a high power-to-weight ratio and for ease of mass production.-History:...

" airplane engine which has a number of features that are discernibly Hall-Scott. Even so Hall-Scott was too small a business to participate in the manufacture of the Libertys.

1921–1945

Shortly after World War I, around 1921, Hall-Scott dropped its aero engine and rail car product lines. The firm produced several hundred thousand two-speed rear axles (the Ruckstell Axle) for Ford's Model T
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to May 1927...

 through the mid-1920s. American Car and Foundry
American Car and Foundry Company
American Car and Foundry is a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once a manufacturer of motor coaches and trolley coaches under the brand names of ACF and ACF-Brill. Today ACF is known as ACF Industries LLC and is based in St. Charles, Missouri...

 purchased Hall-Scott in 1925 and used its engines in its buses and boats. In 1931, one of the firm's most famous and important products, the Invader marine engine entered production. The company survived the Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 and then attained its highest production rates and employment numbers in World War II by building engines for a variety of military products, including a tank retriever
Armoured recovery vehicle
An armoured recovery vehicle is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to repair battle- or mine-damaged as well as broken-down armoured vehicles during combat, or to tow them out of the danger zone for more extensive repairs...

, the Diamond T 980
Diamond T 980
The Diamond T 980 was a heavy tank transporter developed early in World War II.Designed as a heavy prime mover for tank transporting, the 980 was the product of the Diamond T Company in Chicago...

 tank transporter
Tank transporter
A tank transporter is a specialized road vehicle for the transport of tanks, to and from the battlefield or during peacetime. They are necessary to limit the mileage of the tracked vehicles and also to reduce wear on road surfaces which can easily be damaged by such heavy vehicles...

, and the Higgins boat (LCVP
LCVP
The Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel or Higgins boat was a landing craft used extensively in amphibious landings in World War II. The craft was designed by Andrew Higgins of Louisiana, United States, based on boats made for operating in swamps and marshes...

).

1945–1960

Some post World War II ACF-Brill buses manufactured in Philadelphia purchased by Greyhound
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...

 and Trailways
Trailways Transportation System
The Trailways Transportation System is an American group of 80 independent bus companies that have entered into a franchising agreement. The company is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.- History :...

 were equipped with Hall-Scott engines. ACF divested itself of Hall-Scott in 1954. The division was purchased by the Hercules Engine Company. The final products bearing the Hall-Scott name were produced by Hercules in the late 1950s. In 1958 the Berkeley facility was closed. In 1960 Hall-Scott disappeared as a company.

Museum exhibits

Two Hall-Scott interurban coaches from the former Sacramento Northern Railroad are located at the Western Railway Museum
Western Railway Museum
The Western Railway Museum, in Solano County, California is located on Highway 12 between Rio Vista and Suisun. The museum is built along the former mainline of theSacramento Northern Railway...

 at Rio Vista, California
Rio Vista, California
Rio Vista is a city located in the eastern end of Solano County, California in the San Francisco Bay Area, on the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento River Delta region. The population was 7,360 at the 2010 census....

(S.N 1019, S.N. 1020). The 1020 is now restored to its original coach/trailer configuration.

Nevada Copper Belt 21(1910 100hp) is Stored "Seviceable" at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.
The body of Nevada Copper Belt 22 (ex Salt Lake & Utah 503 1913 150hp) is at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City

Select products

  • Hall-Scott A-2 (V-8 aero engine)
  • Hall-Scott A-3 (V-8 aero engine)
  • Hall-Scott A-5 (straight-6 aero engine, OHC)
  • Hall-Scott L-6
  • Hall-Scott A-7
    Hall-Scott A-7
    The Hall-Scott A-7 was an early aircraft engine manufactured by the Hall-Scott company of Berkeley, California. Of straight-4 configuration, it developed 100 horsepower . These engines suffered from reliability problems and were prone to catch fire while in operation.-References:* Gunston, Bill. ....

     (straight-4 aero engine, OHC)
  • Hall-Scott Invader (straight-6 marine engine, OHC)
  • Hall-Scott Defender (V-12 marine engine, OHC) (used in the Fairmile
    Fairmile Marine
    Fairmile Marine was a British boat building company founded in 1939 by the car manufacturer Noel Macklin.Macklin used the garage at his home at Cobham Fairmile in Surrey for manufacturing assembly which is why the boats he designed came to be called Fairmiles....

     A
    Fairmile A motor launch
    The Fairmile A motor launch was a type of Motor Launch designed by Fairmile Marine for the Royal Navy.Shortly before the Second World War the British industrialist Noel Macklin submitted to the Admiralty an innovative plan for the series production of a motor launch...

     and B
    Fairmile B motor launch
    The Fairmile B motor launch was a type of Motor Launch built by Fairmile Marine during the Second World War for the Royal Navy for coastal operations.-Design:...

     motor launches (Navy patrol boats)
  • Hall-Scott 400 (straight-6, truck engine, OHC)
  • Hall-Scott 440 (variant of the 400, OHV 1090in3; largest gasoline engine in any WW2 military truck))
  • Hall-Scott 590 (straight-6, truck & bus engine, OHC)

External links

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