Lots of blood, sweat and tears may have gone into producing the first engine after it was commissioned by Montgomery Ward, the Mercury, taking its name form Roman mythology, were off to a good start.
Threatened with closure due to WWII shortage of materials and depleted inventories, the makers, Kiekhaefer Corporation, quickly shifted gears and began supplying for the war effort.
It was all because of one man, a native of Wisconsin, E.C. 'Carl' Kiekhaefer, who attended a trade school specializing in practical and automotive electricity. With an interest in all types of farm machinery, he decided to set up shop in 1938 when the Cedarburg Wisconsin plant shut down. With help form his father and townsfolk, Carl took the reins of the plant and decided future production.
With the inventory of engines that came with the takeover, Carl was off to a good start with the Mercury brand name when the war intervened.
He quickly switched over to supplying for the armed forces with generators, chainsaws, compressors, designing and building lightweight engines for four years which helped him also to do research and develop in the area of 2 cycle engine technology. Just after the war ended, Kiekhaefer Corporation's 1946 model Mercury was on the launching pad.
Requiring more space for expansion, Carl moved his manufacturing facility as well as the headquarters to an acquired dairy farm at Font du Lac in Wisconsin, his home state.
As competition became stiff between Carl's Kiekhaefer Corporation and Evinrude/Johnson with more and more improved models flooding the market with the outboard speed record set by Mercury in the 1960's, Carl merged his company with Brunswick Corp in 1961.
The merger had taken care of the money part for Carl, but he found himself increasingly sidelined as he wasn't in apposition anymore to call the shots. Although he passed away in 1983, soon after deciding to leave the organization he once built on his own, Carl started Kiekhaefer Aeromarine Motors. But promotion of Mercury by Brunswick helped in its being a market leader even today.
The brand Mercury which accidentally Roman mythology helped lend, makes outboard motors, power heads, lower units, outboard propellers, and of course spare parts. Mercury outboard motors range from 2 HP to 350 HP.
Recent introductions by Mercury Marine include the Flyway 25 EFI Four Stroke Outboard, the OptiMax Jet 80 and Jet 110 Outboard engines and the 15 HP Pro Kicker Four stroke Outboard.
And the endurance test of Mercury outboard motors has been seen in grueling power boat races. As recently as the non-stop 24 hour race with stoppages for fuel and driver exchanges only in Rouen, France last May, showed how boats powered by Mercury motors continued winning in such testing events for the 16th time in 17 years.
