"In 1895 John Lauson built his first internal combustion engine to make life easier for area Wisconsin farmers. In 1905, Lauson introduced an engine designed for cold midwest winters. Dubbed the "Frost King", the engine circulated a solution of calcium chloride that helped it start and keep running in the coldest of temperatures." This was the beginning of the present Tecumseh engine.

Important Update - TecumsehPower Company stopped manufacturing Tecumseh engines in December 2008. It has sold certain assets of its engine business to Certified Parts Corporation (CPC). It also has sold its Peerless transmission division to Husqvarna Outdoor Products.

The Lauson engine was bought by the Tecumseh Products company and became the Tecumseh engine we know today. They now produce engines in the 3hp to 25hp range, along with Peerless transmissions and transaxles for many applications. Tecumseh engines have been around a long time and it is a fine running engine. It has been call finicky by unknowledgeable people, but service techs know that when adjusted properly, it will out run most engines. The new engines of today run very well and meet the latest EPA emission regulations.

Tecumseh is an industry leader in producing engines for snowblowers. These cold weather engines are specially equipped to start and run in cold weather. You will see Tecumseh engines on virtually every brand of snow blower that is popular today. They come in 3hp to 13hp in both 2 and 4 cycle engines.

Closely resembling some of the snow engines, Tecumseh has 20 different utility engines in both horizontal and vertical crankshafts. These run from 2hp to 17.5hp and cover a wide range of application such as tillers, chippers, generators and pressure washers. These come in one cylinder, both L-head and overhead valve design.

In addition to there utility engines, Tecumseh has a line of Power Sport engines designed for ATV, Mini-bike and Go-kart use. These engine have special features such as RV type throttle controls that return to idle when released. The Power Sport engines come in 3.5hp to 11hp.

Tecumseh is well know in the lawnmower circles, having been used on many of the Sears Craftsman mowers for many years. You will see them on many of the lawnmower brands out there today. The walk-behind mowers are 3.5hp to 7hp in both L-head and OHV design. You will find there OHV engines in 7hp to 25hp on many of the riding lawnmowers of today.

Tecumseh is the only engine manufacturer that builds transaxles and the proven Peerless transaxle has been used for many years on a majority of the mowers out there. These are being built in both manual shift and hydrostatic types. Many times you will find a Tecumseh engine and transaxle in the same unit.

Even though Tecumseh stopped building engines in 2008 and sold most of its assets in the Spring of 2009, there webpage is still up and contains some useful information on the engines they built. Click here to visit it. Currently you can still get many parts (not engines or shortblocks) from the same distributor network that handled them before.