Rudge-Whitworth E-Book

Bryan Reynolds

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

A history of the Rudge-Whitworth cycle and motorcycle company, from the late 1800s to the 1940s, including full production histories of the motorcycle models. Topics covered include: the origins of Rudge-Whitworth, from Daniel Rudge's early bicycles, to the Pugh family merger; the expansion into motorcycle production in 1909, with the 'M' prototypes and 'F'-head engines; the invention of the Rudge Multi gear engine in 1912, and a subsequent Isle of man win in 1914; the innovative 'Rudge Four' engines, with four parallel valves per cylinder; the 'Python' models - Rudge equipment used by other manufacturers, including in Enzo Ferrari's Scuderia Ferrari, and finally the post-war slump and a move to EMI, with later attempts to revive the Rudge name. With hundreds of original photographs, Rudge-Whitworth - The Complete Story is an ideal resource for anybody with an interest in the world's largest cycle and motorcycle manufacturers of the early twentieth century, with over two thousand machines still in existence, being enjoyed by their owners today. Superbly illustrated with nearly 200 original photographs (180 colour and 15 black & white).

Leseprobe

OTHER TITLES IN THE CROWOOD MOTOCLASSICS SERIES

BMW MOTORCYCLESBruce PrestonBSA BANTAMOwen WrightBSA UNIT SINGLESMatthew ValeBSA UNIT TWINSMatthew ValeCLASSIC SCOOTERSMick WalkerDOUGLASMick WalkerFRANCIS-BARNETTArthur GentGREEVESColin SparrowHINCKLEY TRIUMPHSDavid ClarkeKAWASAKI [K]Z1000 AND ZIRTony SculpherMOTO GUZZIGreg PullenNORTON COMMANDOMick WalkerNSUMick WalkerROYAL ENFIELDMick WalkerTRIUMPH 650 AND 750 TWINSMatthew ValeTRIUMPH PRE-UNIT TWINSMatthew ValeTRIUMPH TWENTY-ONE TO DAYTONAMatthew ValeVELOCETTE PRODUCTION MOTORCYCLESMick WalkerVELOCETTE – THE RACING STORYMick WalkerVINCENTDavid WrightYAMAHA RACING MOTORCYCLESColin MacKellerYAMAHA STREET BIKESColin MacKeller

Rudge-Whitworth

— THE COMPLETE STORY —

Bryan Reynolds

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2014 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2014

© Bryan Reynolds 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 84797 688 8

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Preface

1

IN THE BEGINNING

2

GETTING STARTED

3

THE YEARS 1912 TO 1913

4

WORLD EVENTS INTERVENE

5

PEACETIME PRODUCTION SOARS

6

THE FIRST 350cc

7

STEADY PROGRESS

8

WELCOME TO ‘THE ULSTER’

9

A NEW DECADE

10

WORLDWIDE SUCCESS

11

THE PYTHON

12

SEMI- AND FULLY RADIAL VALVES

13

THE STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE

14

ENCLOSED VALVES

15

ANOTHER WAR AND THE AFTERMATH

Appendix: Cylinder Head Identification

Bibliography

Index

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, a general vote of thanks to the members of the Rudge Enthusiasts Club who allowed their machines to be photographed for these images to be included with the text, epecially Alastair Crook, Colin Sanders, Dante Petrucci and Manfred Berger.

For additional information which I was able to include in the text, my particular thanks to Volker Barthen (Germany) and Dante Petrucci (Italy), also Ruth Edge and Tony Mobbs of the EMI Archive for permission to publish information taken from their records of the Rudge Company.

Additional information has been gleaned from old copies of The Motor Cycle and Motor Cycling, now part of Mortons Media, The Brooklands Museum library, and also Annice Collett of the VMCC library. Further thanks are also due to Colin Sanders who volunteered to read over the initial text.

Finally to my dear wife Rose for ‘time off’ from household chores to work on the script!

Rudges in the rain at Brooklands.

PREFACE

There have been four occasions when products from Rudge-Whitworth Ltd have affected my future. First of all, shortly following World War II, I completed my studies and my parents promised me a new cycle if I achieved good results. The results were in my favour and I was sent down to Baldwins, the cycle shop, to select a new machine. They had seen a solid Hercules in pride of place, but I looked up high in the window and saw the bright red machine I had to have – a Rudge Aero Clubman. This served me for a number of years and is with me still.

Later, after the Korean War had broken out, I served my national service and was taught to drive everything from a light truck to a Centurion tank. On returning from the Far East for ‘demob’ I started looking round for powered transport – pedal power was too slow. At the depot I met a friend coming in who had a motorcycle that he would not be able to use. A deal was struck and I became the owner of a 1939 Rudge Sports Special, one of the last to be assembled. This also pleased my father, who had had a Rudge sidecar outfit in 1928 and had a very high opinion of them. I had been taught mechanical engineering in the army, but I now started on a new learning curve.

Two books, one by Ransom and the other by Cade and Anstey, provided basic information, but I decided to look further into the history of the machines. My father had a set of volumes published in 1928 called Cars and Motorcycles, which early on had an illustration of an earlier machine – a Rudge Multi. When a 1922 model came up for sale a little later, it joined my ever-increasing selection of Rudge items. Since then my Rudge collection has grown, especially as I was collecting at a time when local dealers were clearing out their old stock, and in particular the paperwork that was destined for the rubbish bin.

The final acquisition occurred when I decided that a powered lawnmower was much more user-friendly than the one I had to push. Electric mowers seemed to self-destruct soon after the guarantee period had expired, so a motor mower was the next priority. Being vintage-minded by now, I found an Atco from the 1930s, not knowing of the Rudge connection as the company was by then owned by Qualcast.

So I now had Rudge power at home and also away! With all the information I had assembled I was able to write some articles about the Rudge company and their products for motorcycle magazines, especially the Rudge Enthusiasts’ Journal, which later became the Radial. Early on, however, Jim Sheldon, the well known author, persuaded me to start recording the whole history of the company and its products. This I did, although I was aware at that time that there were a number of areas on which I had scant information. Fortunately I was able to talk to those who had lived and ridden in the early twentieth century, from Jim Sheldon and ‘Oily’ Karslake to George Hack, Graham Walker and Tyrell Smith, and this information formed the original basis of my research. However, much more has appeared in the last thirty years, which helps to complete the story. In particular, the expansion of the Python story – with the help of Dante Petrucci in Italy and Volker Barthen in Germany – has provided a complete chapter.

As the Rudge organization was an early conglomerate, some areas have had to receive scant coverage. The bearings factory which did so much to help win World War I, C. H. Pugh and Senspray Carburettors, are recorded as to their origin but not their later history, which also applies to the Atco mower business. Also, experiments which did not lead anywhere are only covered briefly, if at all: for example ‘the Cyclecar’, ‘the Ladies’ machine’, the ohc in-line four, the flat and parallel twins – John Pugh had a very inventive mind. Graham Walker once told me that George Hack spent much of his time persuading John not to put into production ‘flights of fancy’ that would never sell. John was often convinced that only he was right, and the rest of the industry was ‘out of step’.

Throughout I have attempted to keep to the original Company measurements, such as the old horsepower rating for the ‘F’-head range, and cubic capacity for the later models. Imperial measurements are used, except where convention requires metric (cubic capacity again), and pounds sterling with decimal equivalents.

Bryan Reynolds

CHAPTER ONE

IN THE BEGINNING

Daniel Rudge

The ‘Rudge Whitworth’ company was created from a number of separate strands, all of which commenced in the nineteenth century. The first relates to Daniel Rudge, who gave it his name. Daniel (Dan) Rudge was born in 1841 in Wolverhampton. As a teenager he decided to ‘see the world’ and enlisted in the 38th Regiment of Foot – later to become the South Staffordshire Regiment in 1881.

Having ‘served his time’ in the army he followed a well beaten path to become the landlord of a pub. In his case it was the Tiger’s Head at 19 Church Street, Wolverhampton, on the corner of Bishop’s Street – now the site of an office block. A ‘blue plaque’ on the side of the building marks the place where the tavern stood, and details the connection with the cycle industry. In the surrounding area were several army friends who were becoming involved in the transport business, which greatly interested Dan. Former comrade Henry Clarke had set up a wagon-wheel business near the pub, which had a stable block behind it; Dan was therefore able to earn more than just being a publican by greasing cart axles, effecting repairs and adjusting brakes.

Rowley B. Turner brought over the first Michaux velocipede to England, arriving in Wolverhampton in 1868. Henry Clarke subsequently set up the Cogent Cycle Company, and another of Dan’s friends, Walter Phillips, was employed to ride them. Walter and his friend George Price soon persuaded Dan to start making his own ‘high bicycles’ (penny-farthings) to the former’s design then, with George Price providing the finances, production commenced in the building behind the pub (which led out into Bishop’s Street), with wheels supplied by Clarke. Dan noted that some of the other Wolverhampton cycle makers were producing poor quality work, so he set a high standard with the machines that he made.