Ailsa Craig Engines

Last updated

Ailsa Craig Engines was a manufacturer of marine and specialist made-to-order engines from 1891 to 1972. Named after the island off the coast of Ayr, Scotland, Ailsa Craig, the company began as a bicycle manufacturer in Glasgow in 1891, later moving to Putney, London, where the then owner went into partnership and set about building early vehicles, going on in 1904 to produce the world's first V12 engine intended for a Russian airship [1] and even a petrol engined vacuum cleaner for Hubert Cecil Booth in 1904.

Contents

Car production

Trading as the Putney Motor Company around 12 cars were made between 1902 and 1912. Each was individually designed to order. The smallest was a single cylinder engined light car made in 1902. At the other extreme was a 50 hp four-cylinder fitted with a luxury body and supplied to the Earl of Norbury. [1]

Between 1906 and 1907 they also sold the Mayfair car which was imported from an unknown source probably French. [1]

Overview

A little later, Ellis Kisch took over and the company moved to 46/47 Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick in West London. There was a concentration on reliable marine engineering with a Royal Appointment being granted in 1926. Following successful work for the Ministry of Munitions and the Admiralty during the First World War, there was a massive war commitment in 1939 when 5000 engines were to be supplied from an additional factory site in Twickenham. Harold Linford, who was the chief designer and general manager, was killed when an aerial bomb exploded over the Factory at Strand-on-the-Green in 1941. John Watson took over the running of the factory until the move to Ashford in 1949/1950 and there produced further quality diesel engines, with the help of Ricardo Engineering, under the direction of Robert Kisch – son of Ellis, between 1958 and 1963/4 when he was taken ill and moved ultimately to Jersey. This ultimately resulted in the company being sold to the Warsop's Fram Group in 1964. [2]

Closure

In 1972, Ailsa Craig ceased trading, although Dr Kisch and his son Christopher Kisch, continue to offer advice where appropriate. [3]

Related Research Articles

Vabis

Vabis was the abbreviation and later also trademark of Swedish railway car manufacturer Vagnfabriks Aktiebolaget iSödertälje, which translates Wagon Factory Limited Company of Södertälje, established in 1891 in Södertälje. Vabis also manufactured petrol engines, automobiles, trucks, motor-powered draisines, motorboats and marine engines. The company was in 1911 merged with Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania, to form Scania-Vabis.

D. Napier & Son

D. Napier & Son Limited was a British engineering company best known for its luxury motor cars in the Edwardian era and for its aero engines throughout the early to mid-20th century.

Standard Motor Company British motor vehicle manufacturer

The Standard Motor Company Limited was a motor vehicle manufacturer, founded in Coventry, England, in 1903 by Reginald Walter Maudslay. For many years, it manufactured Ferguson TE20 tractors powered by its Vanguard engine. All Standard's tractor assets were sold to Massey Ferguson in 1959. Standard purchased Triumph in 1945 and in 1959 officially changed its name to Standard-Triumph International and began to put the Triumph brand name on all its products. A new subsidiary took the name The Standard Motor Company Limited and took over the manufacture of the group's products.

Anzani

Anzani was an engine manufacturer founded by the Italian Alessandro Anzani (1877–1956), which produced proprietary engines for aircraft, cars, boats, and motorcycles in factories in Britain, France and Italy.

Coventry Victor was a British motorcycle and car manufacturer. Originally Morton & Weaver, a proprietary engine manufacturer in Hillfields, Coventry, founded in 1904, the company changed its name to Coventry Victor Motors in 1911. The company closed in 1971.

Argyll (car)

Argyll was a Scottish motor car marque manufactured from 1899 to 1932, and again from 1976 to around 1990.

Ateliers de Construction Mecanique lAster

L'Aster, Aster, Ateliers de Construction Mecanique l'Aster, was a French manufacturer of automobiles and the leading supplier of engines to other manufacturers from the late 1890s until circa 1910/12. Although primarily known as an engine mass manufacturer the company also produced chassis for coach-works and a complete range of components.

Sunbeam Motor Car Company Defunct British automobile manufacturer (1905-67)

Sunbeam Motor Car Company Limited was a British motor car manufacturer with its works at Moorfields in Blakenhall, a suburb of Wolverhampton in the county of Staffordshire, now West Midlands. Its Sunbeam name had been registered by John Marston in 1888 for his bicycle manufacturing business. Sunbeam motor car manufacture began in 1901. The motor business was sold to a newly incorporated Sunbeam Motor Car Company Limited in 1905 to separate it from Marston's pedal bicycle business; Sunbeam motorcycles were not made until 1912.

Wolseley Motors

Wolseley Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers armaments combine in conjunction with Herbert Austin. It initially made a full range, topped by large luxury cars, and dominated the market in the Edwardian era. The Vickers brothers died and, without their guidance, Wolseley expanded rapidly after the war, manufacturing 12,000 cars in 1921, and remained the biggest motor manufacturer in Britain.

Northern (automobile)

Northern Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of Brass Era automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, automobiles designed by Charles Brady King.

Crossley

Crossley, based in Manchester, United Kingdom, was a pioneering company in the production of internal combustion engines. Since 1988 it has been part of the Rolls-Royce Power Engineering group.

Swift Motor Company

The Swift Motor Company made Swift Cars in Coventry, England from 1900 until 1931. It grew progressively from James Starley's Coventry Sewing Machine Company, via bicycle and motorised cycle manufacture. The cars ranged from a single-cylinder car in 1900 using an MMC engine, through a Swift-engined twin-cylinder 7-horsepower light car in 1904, and a 3-litre model in 1913. After the First World War a successful range was sold during the 1920s, but the Cadet of 1930 was its last vehicle as it could not compete economically with volume manufacturers such as Ford and Morris Motors.

Vulcan (motor vehicles)

The Vulcan Motor and Engineering Company Limited, of Southport, England, made cars from 1902 until 1928 and commercial vehicles from 1914 until 1953.

Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft Defunct German manufacturer

Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft was a German engineering company and later automobile manufacturer, in operation from 1890 until 1926. Founded by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, it was based first in Cannstatt. Daimler died in 1900, and their business moved in 1903 to Stuttgart-Untertürkheim after the original factory was destroyed by fire, and again to Berlin in 1922. Other factories were located in Marienfelde and Sindelfingen.

Rolls-Royce Limited 1906-1987 automobile and aerospace manufacturer in the United Kingdom

Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester, United Kingdom by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's reputation established with his cranes they quickly developed a reputation for superior engineering by manufacturing the "best car in the world". The First World War brought them into manufacturing aero-engines. Joint development of jet engines began in 1940 and they entered production. Rolls-Royce has built an enduring reputation for development and manufacture of engines for defence and civil aircraft.

Frederick Richard Simms

Frederick Richard Simms was a British mechanical engineer, businessman, prolific inventor and motor industry pioneer. Simms coined the words "petrol" and "motorcar". He founded the Royal Automobile Club, and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

Phoenix (British automobile company) English manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and tricars

Phoenix was an English manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and tricars active from 1903–1926. It was founded by a Belgian, Joseph van Hooydonk, at his factory in Holloway Road, North London, and named after the Phoenix Cycle Club.

Maudslay Motor Company

The Maudslay Motor Company was a British vehicle maker based in Coventry. It was founded in 1902 and continued until 1948 when it was taken over by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and along with Crossley Motors the new group was renamed Associated Commercial Vehicles (ACV) Ltd.

Warren-Lambert

The Warren-Lambert Engineering Co. Ltd. was a British automobile manufacturer that was established from 1912 to 1922 in Richmond, then in Surrey. A. Warren Lambert, was an agent for Morgan cars in Putney which he also raced. In 1912 he designed and started to manufacture a two-seat four-wheel cyclecar from premises in Uxbridge Road, Shepherd's Bush. It was well received and around 25 cars a week were being made.

Francis Claude Blake was a British engineer, known for his pioneering work designing and manufacturing cars, boats and railway locomotives. He was a member of the Institution of Automobile Engineers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Georgano, N. (2000). Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. London: HMSO. ISBN   1-57958-293-1.
  2. http://domain928502.sites.fasthosts.com/pdf_files/history/warsop_fairport_history.pdf Archived 14 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine – information regarding the Warsops takeover is listed on page 15 of this document.
  3. All primary sources regarding this article are held at The Motorboat Museum, Wat Tyler Country Park, Pitsea Hall Lane, Basildon, Essex SS16 4UH UK +44 (0)1268 550077 – the subject published on this page has been researched through archived primary materials held at the Motor Boat Museum.