Ole Evinrude, born Ole Andreassen Aaslundeie (April 19, 1877 – July 12, 1934) was an American entrepreneur, known for the invention of the first outboard motor with practical commercial application.[1][2]
Biography
Ole Evinrude was born in Hunndalen in Vardal Municipality (now part of Gjøvik Municipality), in Christians amt (county), Norway. The Evinrude surname, which he adopted in the United States, is an estate name from the Evenrud farm in Vestre Toten Municipality, where his mother was born. In October 1881, his father emigrated to America, followed the next year by Evinrude, his mother and two siblings. Three additional siblings were born in America. The family settled on a farm near Lake Ripley in Cambridge, Wisconsin and Evinrude first tried out his motor on that lake. At age sixteen, Evinrude went to Madison, where he worked in machinery stores and studied engineering on his own. He became a machinist while working at various machine tool firms in Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.[3]