Cluley

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The Cluley was a British automobile manufactured between 1921 and 1928 by Clarke, Cluley & Co based in Coventry. [1]

Coventry City and Metropolitan borough in England

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England.

Clarke Cluley began as a general engineering business in 1890 by Ernest Clarke and Charles J. Cluley, and went on to specialize in textile machinery. In 1897 the company started making bicycles under the Globe brand. In the early years of the twentieth century they seem to have made a few three-wheel cars and motorcycles but production stopped with the outbreak of World War I when the factory turned to munitions work.

Textile manufacturing is a major industry. It is based on the conversion of fiber into yarn, yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into clothes. Different types of fibers are used to produce yarn. Cotton remains the most important natural fiber, so is treated in depth. There are many variable processes available at the spinning and fabric-forming stages coupled with the complexities of the finishing and colouration processes to the production of a wide ranges of products. There remains a large industry that uses hand techniques to achieve the same results.

Bicycle pedal-driven two-wheel vehicle

A bicycle, also called a cycle or bike, is a human-powered or motor-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A bicycle rider is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.

1924 Cluley 10/20 MHV Cluley 10-20 hp 1924.jpg
1924 Cluley 10/20

In 1921 they made their first four-wheel car, the 10 or 10/20, powered by a water-cooled 1328 cc side valve engine which they built themselves. The car is thought to have been designed by Arthur Alderson who also worked for Calcott and Lea Francis. [2] Drive was to the rear axle through a cone clutch and three speed gearbox. The car with open tourer coachwork cost £525 in 1921 falling to £225 in 1926. [2] The last cars of this type were produced in 1926 and possibly as many as 2000 were made. [2] In 1922 it was joined by the 11.9 with a longer wheelbase and 1645 cc engine. A six-cylinder model, the 16/40, was listed in 1923 but probably never went into production.

Flathead engine

A flathead engine, otherwise sidevalve engine, is an internal combustion engine with its poppet valves contained within the engine block, instead of in the cylinder head, as in an overhead valve engine.

Calcott Brothers

Calcott was a small English motor vehicle manufacturer based in Coventry. The company began as a bicycle manufacturer in 1886 taking advantage of a boom in the cycling industry at that time. The end of the century brought an end to the cycling boom and the demise of many bicycle manufacturers; however, Calcott managed to continue production and by 1904 was also building motorcycles. Production switched to automobiles in 1913 of which around 2,500 were made.

A new model, the 14/30, came in 1927 with a 1944 cc engine by Cluley and a four-speed gearbox; this was followed by the 14/50 with a 2120 cc Meadows engine. Very few of these cars are thought to have been made and production of all vehicles stopped in 1928.

Henry Meadows, usually known simply as Meadows, of Wolverhampton, England were major suppliers of engines and transmissions to the smaller companies in the British motor industry. Founded in 1920 in Park Lane, Wolverhampton, as a car gearbox maker, they expanded into petrol engines in 1922 and in the 1930s built a large factory in Fallings Park, Wolverhampton.

The company returned to the manufacture of textile machinery. Subcontract work for Rolls-Royce on aero engines kept them in business but the factory was destroyed in an air raid during World War II. The company continued production at premises in nearby Kenilworth but closed in 1987.

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 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.

Kenilworth town in Warwickshire, England

Kenilworth is a town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, about 6 miles (10 km) south-west of the centre of Coventry, 5 miles (8 km) north of Warwick and 90 miles (140 km) north-west of London. The town is on Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, which joins the River Avon about 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the town centre. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 22,413. Kenilworth is noted for the extensive ruins of Kenilworth Castle. Other sights include the ruins of Kenilworth Abbey in Abbey Fields park, St Nicholas' Parish Church and the town's clock tower.

Models

ModelYearsCylindersCapacityWheelbase [3] Length [3]
10/201921–1926four1328 cc96 in (2,438 mm)135 in (3,429 mm)
11.91922four1645 cc108 in (2,743 mm)156 in (3,962 mm)
16/401923six1645 cc116 in (2,946 mm)162 in (4,115 mm)
10/201925four1460 cc111 in (2,819 mm)159 in (4,039 mm)
14/301927four1944 cc111 in (2,819 mm)159 in (4,039 mm)
14/501928four2120 cc111 in (2,819 mm)159 in (4,039 mm)

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Swift Motor Company brand

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References

  1. Georgano, N. (2000). Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. London: HMSO. ISBN   1-57958-293-1.
  2. 1 2 3 Baldwin, N. (1994). A-Z of Cars of the 1920s. Devon, UK: Bay View Books. ISBN   1-870979-53-2.
  3. 1 2 Culshaw; Horrobin (1974). Complete Catalogue of British Cars. London: Macmillan. ISBN   0-333-16689-2.