Liberty ZEV Magneto

[MikeW]

Can anyone give me some information about this "Liberty" ZEV magneto? It is incomplete but looks a clone of an American Bosch. I am assuming it is of late teens/ World War 1 manufacture but haven't been able to track down any information on the internet about Liberty magnetos in general or to what twin cylinder machines this particular model might have been fitted.


Magneto Liberty 1.JPG


Magneto Liberty 2.JPG


Although in a different font, all of the patent information on the base is exactly the same as on this American Bosch.

Magneto American Bosch 2.JPG

Thanks, Mike

[MMasa]

Notice that the “LIBERTY” text is on an area that formerly was stamped Bosch but the area has been milled away with an end mill. During WWI anti German sentiment was so high it would be difficult or impossible to sell something with a German sounding name. Perhaps it was what was used on Harley’s USA bikes produced for the war effort.

[gharper]

Once the US entered WWI, all German imports were stopped immediately. This meant no Bosch magnetos etc. This forced Harley, Indian, Excelsior and Henderson to find other sources. I would guess the manufacturers used up what stock they had before switching, unless it was bad for sales to have German mags on their bikes. This was a boom for Dixie (soon to become Splitdorf) and Berling which became the standard for a few years.

However, the Germans being Germans continued..... I believe the American Bosch company was formed not too long before the US entered the war, possibly in anticipation of this happening. It was owned by members of the same family as the German Bosch company and made the same mags just with a different logo. This manufacturing capability was in place before the US entered the war. I've never seen a "LIBERTY" mag before. Perhaps the American Bosch company had, or scooped up any remaining German Bosch stock and renamed them, hence the milled out area with new lettering. The word LIBERTY was used on many items made in the US for the war effort, so cunning work on their part.

Bosch magnetos were certainly the gold standard of the time and it's interesting to note that it didn't take long for them to start to re-appear after the war. I believe some racers started using them again by the mid 20's, Super X and Henderson by 29.

[MikeW]

Thank you for the replies. The magneto - only a base and magnet in fact- came with a box of J model Harley-Davidson bits and pieces, including an "American Bosch" ZEV. That led me to assume that it was off a Harley-Davidson. The more I look at my photos in light of the comments above, everything about the stampings on both sides of the base shout "Bosch", except the milled out section stamped "Liberty", and the trademark stamps in what was formerly a blank space.

Was this a modification made in the American Bosch factory, or to completed magnetos after they had been supplied to the end user? The trademark stamps suggest the former to me. And what the end plate, which was (in the late teens) stamped "Bosch", would have been like on this "Liberty" version is another puzzle. And what machines might it have been fitted to: perhaps to some Harley-Davidsons supplied to the U.S. military as Mark has suggested?

I haven't found anyone who has seen one of these so,whatever the answers, it seems unlikely the Liberty ZEV was a common item.

Mike

[MikeW]

The more I look at the Patent stampings on the two magnetos (Bosch and Liberty), the more it looks as if the fonts are, in fact, the same, and not different as I stated in my original post, For example, the irregularities and unevenness in the second line are exactly the same in both. On closer inspection it looks as if the stamping is deeper on the Bosch base (perhaps the alloy is softer) and it is this that makes the letters appear "chunkier". So, a WW1 re-branded Bosch magneto as Mark has proposed,