Hans Grade was an amazing man, a pivotal individual in aviation at the turn of the 20th century.
Around 1918 he sold his first company which had been started in 1905 and started a second. At this time he experimented with other uses for engines, and I think this outboard was one of those. I have no idea if they were produced for any length of time. I have seen dates for his company of 1905 to 1925.
The First World War must have impacted production. The illustration to the right is a detail from an ad.
In a small Google snippet from a book from 1918, Motor Ship and Motor-Boat, Vol. 15-17, I found the following information about the Grade. Unfortunately the book is not online, so this is all I have. I also read elsewhere that Hans Grade made an "auxilliary sail boat motor"...which this might be.
"In the meantime the Grade Motor Co. in Magdeburg has begun making outboard motors,
including a 2 as well as 5 hp ... outboard motor with opposed (cylinder) pistons installed, which not only includes all the features of the Swedish motor (building) technique, but we've also incorporated improvements based on what the Swedes learned from running the motor, and ours is more stably built than the Swedish motor.
The Grade outboard motor is a 2-cylinder 2-cycle gasoline motor with adjustable carburetor jets and magneto driven spark plugs. (See fig. 1, 2, and 3)"
This fascinating aviation pioneer's hard to find outboard motor can use some more research!
If you have any information to share, contact me!
Translation help from AOMCI member Tom Oncken who sent me to AOMCI member Joe McCauley and his son, Hans Küffner-McCauley.
