Harrison Heater

[pfarber]

So you don't think that's an original heater switch? BTW, So you're convinced that that GM kept two sets of heater housing dies, so they could continue producing military heaters without bosses, even AFTER they added bosses for the civilian heater housings? Ok, got it.

No, its not an original heater switch. The YT-4336 CLEARLY shows the switch and that ain't it. Bendy Me Over has a rheostat installed... most likely its also lighted (that was a common civvy feature). I can scan it if need be.

No, I think that the heater was first designed without the defroster/baffles and then added post war. Your only source of a pre-war Military style heaters is an ebay auction. That will simply not fly as any sort of definitive answer. You have no put the H-173 heater to a date, nor have you matched it to a parts book. All you have is 'a guy selling one on ebay said he was told by...'. There are people on ebay that say Patton rode up Utah beach in an CJ-2. And that's about as much weight as I give anyone on ebay.

Do you have a copy of YT-4336? I've pretty much scanned in every image, and other than text nothing is left to show you.

[pfarber]

Some much better quality scans. I played with the scanner settings and have made some pretty astonishing discoveries:

First: No boss. No way, no how.

Second: Note that there IS a data tag! You have to click on the image to get the full size version.. but just to the left of the hole is a tag. Also not the switch. Bend Me over's 'NOS kit has a civvy rheostat with a light... not whats in the military version on the kit.

[pfarber]

Found a tagged and dated Harrison Super Deluxe Heater #1-02-45

So this put the boss and baffle at 1945 (assuming that data plate decodes to model# - month - year)

[retro-roco]

Got the United Motors (Harrison) manual in the mail. Did not lend as much clarity as I had hoped. It seems the updates only take the manual through early 1942. Model numbers through that time period had one of the following prefixes:

H - Heater
UH - Underseat Heater
DF - Defroster
DFS - Defroster Fitting Set
FAI - Fresh Air Intake
UDF - Under Dash Defroster (used with underseat heaters)

Heaters from Model years 1931-32 through 1936 had model number ranging from H-1 through H-44. Each number carried a corresponding Harrison number, but the heaters did NOT have a Name Plate attached to the heater. This Name Plate (their term) is similar to a data plate, and not to be confused with the heater Face Plate & Trim, which was typically attached to the front of the heater. These faceplates would often time identify the automaker, and the heater style.

Starting with the 1936-37 model year, and heater model H-45, the model number was indicated on a Name Plate, attached to the mounting bracket or rear of the heater. These numbers ranged from H-45 through H-201.

Heaters H172, 173 and 194 all shared the same triangular shaped housing, with some offering a front mounted defrost, and others not. Heaters H184 & 185, H-201, and I-207 were specifically designed for GMC truck underdash mounting.

Harrison H-173-front

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Harrison H-173 rear

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Harrison I-207 front

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Harrison I-207 - rear

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While not indicated in this manual, it appears from known heater examples, that this numbering sequence was changed sometime after Feb, 1942. Examples of Harrison heaters are common with model numbers with a hyphen, and a second number, presumed to indicate year. Examples would include H-02-46, or H-02-47.
This should look familiar:

Harrison H-02-46 front

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Harrison H-02-46 rear

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I have photos of Harrison heaters, from 1941-42 and 1946, and they share the same heater shell and bosses. So we now know conclusively that the bosses showed up during the 1941-42 model year, and continued to exist through at least 1946...

[pfarber]

Yes they did, in civvy heaters. I have no qualm about that.

But there are significant differences in the shell stampings (other than just the boss) from a 'Super Deluxe' to a US Army heater. And I have photos to prove it.

Why not just email Gopan/Dover whatever he calls himself now and get a photo of an NOS heater like he says he has? Of get a person he sold one to to snap a photo? Just show me the original box and heater and we're done.

Someone posted this a while back... for sure they still have the heater

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[retro-roco]

Doesn't your heater look like that from the back? I have a used one, and it does. I have pictures (including the ones posted a few pages back) of a re-packed (presumed NOS??) heater (which you just re-posted above, emblazoned with the tm9-801 watermark), which is representative of the ones Joe Gopan is selling (or was anyway). I presume that it also is representative of the one he has in his truck. so there are at least three of them, and they also share the common feature of bosses on the front. I have never seen an actual cab heater without the boss. Like you, I have seen a heavily doctored photo illustration of one (or at least a photocopy of one). My point to all this is there are real examples of heaters with bosses that have been seen and are known to exist. The photo illustration would seem to indicate that they MIGHT have existed without a boss.

My point, in the post above, was to address your earlier hypothesis about when bosses were added. I have documentation that the heater shell with bosses first appeared in the 1942 model year (late 1941), and continued to be produced through the 1947 model year. The same manual shows that Harrison produced models specifically designed to fit the 1942 GMC truck. Did they have bosses? At least some of them did. Did they all get defrosters and flaps installed? They did NOT all have defrosters, as shown by the manual. Heaters H-184, 185 and 190 are all noted as designed for 1942 GMC trucks, and none of them had defrosters. (Just a note that the models listed in my previous post DID include defrosters.)

All civilian heaters that I've shown have a couple features that are notably different than the military heaters that you, Joe and I have. Those features include:
Flaps - civilian heaters have them, ours don't.
Extra mounting bolt located near the fan - civilian heaters have them, ours don't.
bottom deflectors - civilian heaters have one, ours have two.
paint - while certainly NOT conclusive, civilian heaters are typically a "hammered" gloss paint, while ours appear to be OD (or certainly "flat").

Even looking back at the previous photos of CJ heaters, it appears that if a heater had internal flaps, it only had one bottom deflector. If there are no flaps, then there are two deflectors. This is consistent with the heater shown in the manual too.

You might have noted that I have taken to calling our heaters (your's, Joe's and mine) "military". Ours all appear to have the same features, including front boss, rear mounting flange, mounting bolt number and locations, number of bottom deflectors and paint.

The photo of the re-pack heater shows that it was re-packed in 1955; indicating that this style of heater was built prior to that. Were they common in either form (bossed or no boss)?? I would suggest no, since so very few are to be found.

This date range can be narrowed a little further by another manual that I have, which is the installation instructions for a Personnel Heater Kit, Ord No. 7354240, which is listed as designed for Chevy 1-1/2 ton 4x4 trucks with commercial cab, and GMC 2-1/2 ton, both open and closed cab trucks. This is a drivers side fender mounted, gasoline fired heater, with ductwork for piping heated air to the cab and windshield of the trucks it is installed in. This manual is dated 1951, and the cover photo, model descriptions, and installation photos are of an open cab CCKW. Also included in the kit were an engine primer installation, and an insulated radiator cover. There is a reference to this kit show here:

http://cckw.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=5060

I'll keep digging, and hope that someday we can figure out when the "with boss" military heaters were introduced. I'd like to see pics of a "no-boss" heater someday (besides the pic in the manual)!

[pfarber]

I can only hold up YT-4336 and the photo included:

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No boss.

I really appreciate the effort and I also am collecting bits as I find them (such as the GMC heaters start with an I). I still stand by the photo and that the boss, the punch outs, and the other bits of the SUPER DELUX type heaters were not part of the Army unit.

Take the shell. The Army unit has two ducts to direct air to the driver. They are centered over the bottom vents. That requires a flange on each vent to spot weld the ducts to:

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The DELUXE heaters do not have this 'middle' flanges at it appears that the flange it does have is much longer:

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This is a fundamental difference in the shell stampings.

Also, the DELUXE HEATERS would require MORE holes punched around the motor to allow hot air to be pushed to the defrosters, and an additional internal duct:

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Plus a motor with a through shaft so fans could be installed on BOTH ends.

That's a LOT more than just the boss.

I maintain that the Army heater was an initial version of the DELUXE HEATER without the boss. The fact the the model 1574 and 1608 closed cabs never included ANY provision for defrosters leads credence to that. But the parts book DOES list the ash tray: TRAY, ash, instrument board, assembly

Whats odd is that the G506 EXPLICITLY LISTS a defroster:

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But from the G506 TMs it is not the same triangular type as a CCKW heater. These are, for all intents and purposes, the exact same sheet metal, and the firewall is basically empty in the same locations.

[pfarber]

And the South Wind heaters were part of an Artic Kit that used gasoline to heat the motor, battery, and cab.

IIRC the Doyle CCKW book has a pic of the heater installed in an engine bay of a CCKW.