ELTO

This was a marine outboard company founded in 1919 by Ole Evinrude after he sold his Evinrude Company and designs. Evinrude went on to design the 'Evinrude Light Twin Outboard' or ELTO for short. The name was proposed by Bess Evinrude. It used aluminum cylinders and was considered the first really successful outboard. While Evinrude's 1912 motor broke ground, it was the ELTO that things coalesced and the ELTO was 50 pounds lighter. People could waterski behind the ELTO. It was easy to start and carry, and became the standard motor in the 1920s. Ole Evinrude lead the race in motor development and managed to succeed enough to buy his Evinrude Outboard Company back in 1928. This company went on to become Outboard Marine Corporation which was the larger parent for many years of both the Evinrude and Johnson outboard brands.

ELTOs were made in a variety of sizes from the 1 horse Cub, to larger Ace; Ruddertwin, and Lightwin were larger models. ELTOs were produced until the 1950s, but the marque was relegated to the back pages of the catalogue by the 1930s.