Army tank generator

[Tom Kilgore]

any info on a starter gen for a old army tank, this unit was started to give the battery extra help in starting and to run the electric system without the main engine. it was a 1 cyl. with the cyl . pointing down. i think the GIs called little joe or little moe. any one have one or info.

["TheToolman"]

we had a "LITTLE JOE" it was mounted to a JEEP trailer with a fuel tank from a duce & 1/2 . we used it to start things in the field & the fuel tank for our emmersion heaters for hot water to heat "C" rats. and fuel our space heaters in the winter

[Don C. Wiley]

Tom;

Delco-Light made a small generator that was used in tanks and it was called "Little Joe". I got some printed information from a fellow in England that gave directions to convert the tanks from the Little Joe's to "Tiny Tims", which was merchandised by Montgomery and Ward and I think Sears also sold some of them.

The Little Joe's were made in 6 and 12 volt models. The Tiny Tim's were made in 6, 12, and 32 volt models.

None of the above has the cylinder pointing down. They were a typical 4 storke vertical "L" head design.

A picture of yours would be nice to view.

"DELCO DON" Southern Illinois

[Tom Kilgore]

i am looking for one, i seen 1 about 50 years ago and the carb
was open and ran wide open. the crankshaft was in two parts
with a ball bearing on the connecting rod and one side of the crankshaft drove the gen and the other side the rest of the motor. I am recalling all of this from memory so it could be
wrong.

[Andrew Mackey]

With the inverted cylinder, it sounds like an Onan outfit.
Andrew

[John Newman, Jr.]

With an inverted cylinder, it is more likely a 2-stroke Homelite, in my opinion. Those were pretty common military units.

[vern0n]

I have a Homelite tank heater. The cylinder points down. I forget what the voltage is. I can submit a picture if you want. I'll just need to drive to the barn and take one.

[ListerDiesel]

Continental did a little tank battery genny, and there was the Johnson Chore-Horse as well, plus a few others.

Peter

[Tom Kilgore]

peter any pictures would be great tom

[Tom Kilgore]

vernon; a picture would be great thanks for the offer tom