Briggs & Stratton

Briggs & Stratton is the largest manufacturer of air-cooled gasoline engines. Over 10 million units are produced. These engines can be found mainly in construction and garden equipment such as mobile generators, lawn mowers and other petrol -powered devices. At year-end 2012, the Group employed 6,321 staff. The Company's shares are traded on the NYSE since 1928. Briggs & Stratton are distributed worldwide.

The company was founded in 1908 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA by engineers Stephen Foster Briggs and Harold M. Stratton. Originally automobiles should be made ​​. 1919 acquired Briggs & Stratton the rights to the Smith Flyer, a buckboard and produced it under the name of Briggs & Stratton Flyer to 1923. Thereafter, the company moved to the production volumes of parts for the automotive industry and built-in motors that have been developed from the engine of the Flyers were.

1978 Briggs & Stratton bought the small German diesel engine manufacturer Farymann diesel and wanted to create the entry in small diesel engines. The plans to develop new water-cooled multi-cylinder engines failed, as did the to reduce the cost of existing one - cylinder engines significantly. The mid-1980s therefore Farymann Diesel was sold again. 2004, the competitor Simplicity Manufacturing was acquired. The fallen into bankruptcy in the same year rival Murray was bought the following year.

In 1990, Briggs & Stratton began to award beautiful parks in the United States. Since 2002, Briggs & Stratton sponsors the competition " Most Beautiful Park" in Europe. The ten or five nation's most scenic parks are a person assigned by Briggs & Stratton jury since then in Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Poland and Sweden each year awarded a prize. First time in 2009 was "the most beautiful park in Europe " awarded the.