Yanmar Excavator Service Manual and Parts Catalog

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Founding Yamaoka Hatsudoki Kosakusho,the predecessor of Yanmar
In the process of handling a large number of repairs and renovations of gas engines, the row house in Tenma became too small. In 1912 Magokichi leased a 230 square meters piece of land at present-day 1–32 Chayamachi, Kita-ku, Osaka. He gathered together 5 engine lathes, established a repair shop with an office, and gave it the name Yamaoka Hatsudoki Kosakusho (trans.Yamaoka Engine Company). Its first day of business, March 22, is celebrated as the foundation of what would later become the Yanmar we know today.

The company employed another seven or eight factory workers,but Magokichi, covered with oil, continued working as usual while actively leading the way. The company got off to a favorable start,but the wave of modernization brought forth unexpected develop-ments.

In 1913 Ujigawa Denki (trans.Ujigawa Electric) constructed a large-scale hydroelectric power plant, providing the Kyoto-Osaka area with electricity. In addition, the company began to sell electric motors. Just as gas-powered engines were finally coming into gen-eral use, they were becoming antiquated. Dealers in the buying and selling of gas engines in Osaka unfortunately ended up going out of business one after another.

Magokichi did not sink into low spirits. To the contrary, he sim-ply shook off this apparent setback. Magokichi had twice as much enthusiasm for pursuing knowledge as the next person, but because of his family’s circumstances he had been unable to receive suffi-cient education. Thinking that by adding to his store of knowledge he could make up for his lack of learning, he took advantage of every occasion to travel around and observe.

No information could be more dependable, he thought, than the information he could gather with his own two legs and his own two eyes. Urban areas like Osaka had become supplied with electric power, but Magokichi knew that the countryside was still depen-dent on gas. Looking at the broad market, he knew that the demand for gas engines and suction gas engines was actually on the increase.

One by one, Magokichi began buying, repairing and renovating the no longer needed gas engines he could find in Osaka. Once they were rebuilt, he traveled from city to city in western Japan and to the textile manufacturing regions of Senshu, Nishiwaki, Tango,Kaga and Enshu selling these engines. The demand was so great that the company was unable to handle all of the repairs and rebuilding.By seeking cooperation from nearby ironworks, he continued his sales visits.