Harrison Heater

[pfarber]

Came across this on ebay:

This has several of the features of the NOS one above: Straight pipes, 'short' brackets with no embossing, stud mounted at top vs middle.

But here is the front:

Note the boss. The only images found of Harrison heaters do not show the boss. I forget how I got the images of the NOS heater above, but a simply pic of the front to see if the boss is there or not would have really helped. Oh well... the hunt is still on.

[retro-roco]

When did Harrison introduce the "deluxe" version of this heater? Do you know when? I've been looking for that answer, but to date have not come across a definitive answer...

[pfarber]

Learned a little bit about Harrison Radiator today:

Harrison Radiator Corporation was an early manufacturer of automotive radiators that became a division of General Motors in 1918. Today its business is a part of General Motors's Automotive Components Group. Based in Lockport, NY, the company was founded by Herbert C. Harrison, an inventor and entrepreneur. Harrison's technical background was in metallurgy and the "Harrison Hexagon" honeycomb radiator had advantages in design (hexagon cellular efficient heat distribution) and manufacturing[1] so that leakages became rare.

The company was founded in 1910 as the Harrison Radiator Company. The first hand-built radiator was sold in 1911 to the Remington Standard Motor Company of New York. [2] The company was sold to William C. Durant's United Motors Company in 1916: "The company has large contracts with the Mitchell, Hupp, and Chandler, among other motor companies, and the increased facilities will enable it to accept contracts with the Olds, the Oakland and the Chevrolet motor companies. [3]

Durant, the founder of General Motors, created United Motors in order to begin to vertically integrate the automobile industry. United Motors was run by Alfred P. Sloan. Durant had lost control of General Motors in 1910 and set up Chevrolet as his principal manufacturing company. He regained control of General Motors in 1916 through a merger with Chevrolet and in 1918 he sold United Motors to General Motors. Other divisions of United Motors included the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company (antifriction roller bearings), New Departure Manufacturing Company (ball bearings), Remy Electric Company (electrical starting, lighting, and ignition equipment), Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, later known as Delco Electronics Corporation (electrical equipment), the Perlman Rim Corporation and Klaxon Horn.

Herbert Harrison remained President of Harrison Radiator until his death in 1927.[4]

By 1929, the company was manufacturing 2.3 million radiators annually.[5] It later became the division of GM responsible for manufacturing air-conditioning units as well as radiators. In 1995, General Motors spun off its components' makers as Delphi Automotive Systems (later Delphi Corporation) and the Harrison Radiator business was renamed Delphi Harrison Thermal Systems. Delphi filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and emerged in 2009. The Harrison business and the Lockport manufacturing plant were repurchased by General Motors as part of its Automotive Components Group in October 2009. [6]

So basically GM snarfed up Harrison and spat them out as 'Delphi'. May try to email them.

[pfarber]

The GM Heritage archives was actually a bit of help. This is the Harrison Logo from 1946:

46logoharrison.PNG (8.81 KiB) Viewed 9825 times

They evidently published a magazine call "The Harrison Chronicle" and this is the July 1944 cover:

44harrisonlogo.PNG (106.07 KiB) Viewed 9825 times

The logo seems the same.

[pfarber]

Here is a DELUXE model with the all the dampers and defroster installed. The data tag says: H-2-46 The thinking is that the data plate code is a date: Feb 1946. Lots of Harrison Heaters (Chevy's, different models, though) are stamped in the same fashion (no plate, just stamped). I found a post where a guy said he had a heater with H-2-46 on the tag. I emailed him to see if the heater was the same as the one below.

And the rear with the exact same mounts, supply/return pipes, and flanges:

From what I can tell, the knob on the front, far right knob controls the passenger side. The far left knob controls the drivers side. The lever in the midde most likely open a door to the secondary shaft mounted fan in the front diffuser part (to go to the defrosters).

[pfarber]

Here's a photo of the Harrison Factory in 1941:

I cannot find any sort of brochure, other than the Willy CJ3 one, that even shows these things were put in cars.

[pfarber]

Here is Delphi Harrison today:

Lets hope that *some* of the historical documents were moved to the new site.

[pfarber]

Found a picture of an ORIGINAL Harrison 'Chevrolet Super Deluxe' heater. The owner says the tag on his is also H-02-46 but this was installed in an 53 Chevy panel truck.

http://www.stovebolt.com/gallery/kuiper ... 01953.html

I got lucky in guessing how the unit works. If you read the plate the functions of the knobs are explained. The secondary plenum DOES house a squirrel cage fan, shaft mounted to the motor.

[pfarber]

Here is the proof I have regarding the boss. This image is from Page 5 from YT-4336 cab installation instructions:

No boss. This is from the installation manual. Not sure what other documentation I can provide other than the manual used to install the heater.

[retro-roco]

Yep, you have a picture of a heater from a '42 dated manual that shows no boss. You also have pics of a civilian heater from 46 (per the dataplate) with not only a boss, but also two other holes for controls. So we know that sometime between 42 and 46 they added a boss... I don't know when, do you? I do know when WWII ended and it wasn't 42, and it wasn't 46 either. I've been looking high and low for Chevy or GMC truck accessory brochures, ads, etc. that might help narrow down the time frame. Until then, I'll just keep my "post-war' heater and install it when the time comes.

[pfarber]

Heater showed up today. Here is the mounting bracket:

This looks like the heater from the kit.. but it is not.

Note in this photo there are two holes punched into the flange, not just one. While the mounting flange, and the location of the mounting studs is the same as the heater in the kit, there is a boss stamped into the right (passengers) side.

There is no data plate, nor are there any stampings of date/model/manufacturer.

I don't believe this to be an original Harrison heater as issued for the GMC CCKW.

One VERY INTERESTING observation: The screws that hold the shell halves together are CLUTCH HEAD screws!

[pfarber]

The Harrison heaters of the 30's are vastly different. They were very art deco and rarely more than simple fans on top of cores, with doors as baffles. Not till the mid 40's can I find heaters like Chevrolet SUPER DELUXE heaters.

I have not found anything in print OTHER than post war WILLYS manuals.

In the 50's the heaters changed again to 'fresh air' types, and in the 60's most add on heater kits were done away with in favor of factory installed units.

I'm not saying anything except that heater with the boss is a post war unit. In no way can I envision that Harrison would 'add' the boss to a wartime unit simply 'because'. And they surely weren't selling them in the civilian market... there was no civvy car market 42-45.

[pfarber]

Here is the list of available hot water heaters from the 1929-1954 Chevrolet Master Parts book:

Note these are only available with defrosters

But if you look at the replacement parts for motors and cores, you get a slightly larger list:

Note that for the war time years there is only one heater core and motor that is NOT specifically for
PASS (passenger car), or under seat.

So I'm not seeing a lot to support the Harrison heater being a standardized heater for *any* Chevy.

[pfarber]

Yep, you have a picture of a heater from a '42 dated manual that shows no boss. You also have pics of a civilian heater from 46 (per the dataplate) with not only a boss, but also two other holes for controls. So we know that sometime between 42 and 46 they added a boss... I don't know when, do you? I do know when WWII ended and it wasn't 42, and it wasn't 46 either. I've been looking high and low for Chevy or GMC truck accessory brochures, ads, etc. that might help narrow down the time frame. Until then, I'll just keep my "post-war' heater and install it when the time comes.

Where are you getting 1946 as a date? The data tags on the Harrison heaters has not been confirmed to have any date code (although it seem that some of their other products did include a date-like numbering system) for the heaters.

The only photo we have of any detail is from the install manual and that clearly shows no boss.

The only vehicle that the heater can positively be put in, besides the CCKW is the CJ2A and CJ3 (the latter has an actual photograph of the heater installed).

One could more correctly say that most of the Harrison Heaters with the bosses are likely leftover from WILLYS jeeps than CCKWs. I cannot put the heater into a GM or GMC vehicle at all.

[pfarber]

I found this:

http://www.1948chevy.com/support/accy1.htm

Note the rear mounts are EXACTLY like the heater I just got (the extra hole in the flange). I've emailed the web site to see if I can get the tag number.