The rebuilding of the Plessisville, Quebec-built Hercules “look alike” engine is complete. Literature lists the four following brand names as being used on those Plessisville-built engines: Plessis, St. Georges, Champion Economique and Niagara. Niagara was the brand used by the Forano Machinery Co. The St. Georges was the brand used by J.A. Roy Inc. Since no detailed information on the decals was available, yours truly took the liberty of putting a “fit ’em all” name on it.
I’ve built a Hercules-style cart, but the wheels have not come from the foundry yet. However, you can see the cart frame as it is now.
Shown in the illustration (bottom left) is part of a page from Plessisville related literature showing the “Petit Moteur.” If you are French, you can read the rest.
Some related literature is written in French and some is in both French and English. No matter what the Canadian literature source, most of the illustrations look strikingly similar to that found in the more common Hercules and Economy literature.
There are two more Canadian-branded Hercules “look alike” engines: the Bournival and the Morin.
These engines appear to be exact duplicates of those built by Hercules, and were likely exported to Canada and rebranded there.
Glenn Karch is a noted authority on Hercules engines. Contact him at: 20601 Old State Road, Haubstadt, IN 47639; glenn.karch@gte.net
