Hello, My name is Tim Carls - in Mount Pleasant WI. Not sure if this is the right forum or place, but I am trying to find out information about my 1940s/early 50s Mead Glider, built in Chicago. Mead manufactured many different wood/metal/canvas kayaks to glider planes. I have the frame, batwing sail, outrigger sponsons and parts for this antique. Trying to find someone that either restore, or perfect for vintage/antique ‘wall art’
Any information would help, as I keep researching. Thank you! tc
Looks amazing. Something like that would be very nice hung in a high ceiling contemporary house.
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If it were me, I would ask Joe Greenley
In Fort Townsend
Redfish Kayaks
He probably knows people all over the country
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I suggest posting at the Wooden Boat forums, I think the building & repair forum is the place to post. There are descriptions of other restorations there.
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thats what I am hoping : ) perfect vintage wall art for sure! thanks.
i use to be a member and have tried there, sadly not much response there, but may try again, thanks!
Hi Tim,
Here is a bit more information on your Mead Gliders “Ki-Yak.”
In the late 1920s, Ted Mead, of Chicago, Illinois, started a company to build gliders, complete or in kit form, for people who wanted to get started in flying, hence the name “Mead Gliders.” Ted was a son of James L. Mead who started the Mead Cycle Company in 1889.
In about 1932 Mead Gliders introduced their first “Ki-Yak”, as they called them, a 10’6" single called the “K-4” with an all-wood frame of Sitka spruce, basswood and plywood, covered with approximately 7oz aircraft canvas tautened with nitrate dope as for aircraft. Shortly thereafter, they introduced a 14’ double of the same construction, called the “K-5”. These were notable in that they trapped a significant volume of air between the basswood-lined cockpit and the hull, leading to Mead’s claim that they were “unsinkable.”
Around 1934 Mead developed an innovative construction technique involving pre-formed and hardened aluminum ribs supporting spruce stingers. They received a patent on this construction method in August of 1936. The line expanded to include a 10’ single (the CK-1), 14’ and 16’ doubles (CK-2 and CK-3, respectively), and 12’ and 14’ rowboats capable of carrying a small motor (OK-2 and OK-4, respectively), all built in this same manner. Your “Ki-Yak” is a CK-2.
All models in both series were available factory built or in kit form. Sailing kits were available for all models.
If there are patent numbers stamped on the ribs, the boat was made after about mid-1936. If not, probably between 1934 and 1936. With the beginning of WW-II, aluminum became more difficult to obtain, and steel ribs began to be used, probably around 1939 or 1940. Production likely stopped by 1942, and by late 1943 the once-abundant advertising for these boats disappeared, as the attention of the company turned to war production. I have not seen any advertising or other information indicating that kayak production continued through or after the war.
Around this time, the company changed its name to Mead Specialties Company, producing the “BandSander” (their patented 1"x42" vertical strip belt sander), and pneumatic work-holding devices. After the war, they introduced the “Mighty-Mouse” and later the “Speed Cat” lines of mini bulldozer/trencher equipment that could be transported in the back of a pick-up truck.
The Mead name survives today in Mead Fluid Dynamics, makers of pneumatic cylinders, valves, and other devices, which traces its beginnings to 1939. They operate at the same address where they have been since the mid 1940s: 4114 North Knox Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.
During the mid-1930s, Mead began producing a variety of very successful iceboats, that may have been produced into the 1940s.
Hope this was worth the read!
Walt Peebles
Eaton Rapids, Michigan
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