Classic Cob
From the shed
Sometime ago Ken Goodman sent me photos of a pushbike fitted with a Villiers engine. He advised me that the engine was made in Australia. I was not aware that they had been made here. Those photos and a short story appeared in issue 90.
The small Villiers engines are not usually everybody’s cup of tea but they have a special place in motorcycle history. During the 1890s John Marston was producing Sunbeam machines but was unable to find good quality parts such as pedals. In 1898 he purchased a small “Japanning” works in Villiers Street, Wolverhampton. His son Charles managed this plant producing quality pedals and free-wheeling pushbike rear wheels. He purchased it from his father in 1902. In 1912 the first engine, a 350cc 4 stroke with integral 2 speed gearbox was developed, followed shortly after by a 70m x 70m 269cc 2 stroke which had rapid success owing to its simplicity. By 1914 this engine was adapted by a large number of manufacturers such as Royal Ruby, New Ryder, BownVilliers, Coventry Eagle, Invicta, Ixion, Roulette and Juno. In the early years of the motorcycle industry there was a large number of “assembler” firms operating out of small and very basic workshops.
They purchased components from wherever they could, put them all together to make a complete machine. Villiers supplied some 300 of these firms. Villiers was one of those two stroke manufacturers who owed their success not so much to their own design but to that of the unreliable four strokes. Poor material used, especially for exhaust valves, which frequently burnt out, initially gave the four stroke a bad reputation. However this shifted somewhat back to the four stroke with the introduction of aluminium, commencing with piston manufacture. The fact that two stroke engines such as Villiers could be made compact and in small capacity meant that they were ideal for use in Auto Cycles.
Early machines had acetylene lighting. Most machines were single cylinders and tapped into the primary winding of the magneto. This surplus current fed to a small battery which then fed the front and rear lights. During World War 1 Villiers produced munitions but also prepared for the peace period and applied for 16 patents. One of these patents was for their ‘flywheel magneto”. One problem had been that prior to the war most in the industry relied on German magnetos. By fitting an extra coil into the “flywheel magneto” the alternating current generated could be fed directly to the lamps. Later a battery was brought into the system by the simple device of adding a rectifier to the circuit so as to convert the alternating current to direct current.
After the war they continued with the 269cc engine MK11 which now had an oil pump to provide crankcase and piston lubrication. Seagull outboard motors used the Villiers flywheel ignition as well as the “Seagull – Villiers” carburettor. 1922 there were new engines produced, the 147cc, 250cc, 342cc. These had radial cylinder heads with the exhaust and inlet ports at the front of the cylinder. During World War II they produced a number of engines for air drop paratroopers; the Excelsior Wellbike and James ML known as the Clockwork Mouse.
In the early 1950s the Australian Government imposed import restrictions. Villiers claimed that they had spent some 500 GBP to set up machinery, in England, to produce engines for the Australian market. With a nominated capital of 250 Pounds they obtained 25,000 sq feet of land in Gillies
Street, Ballarat. Initially 100 men were employed and it was anticipated that 86% of the engines produced there would be exported to New Zealand, India, Pakistan, East Indies and the Far East. Engines there were intended to be used in milking machines, pumping plants and mowers. The Ransomes Roller Mower was one such machine which was sold in Sydney by P. & R. Williams. Engines produced at Ballarat were the 2G, 3G, 5G, 2M, 3M, 7F and 25C 2-stroke, and MK10. 12. 15, 20, 25 and 40 4-stroke. At its peak there were claims that they were producing 10,000 engines a month. This production plant closed about 1960.
Villiers also produced engines such as the twin cylinder 424cc Mark 3T, 4 speed with reverse gear for the Bond Minicar. During the early 1960s Villiers produced 246cc two strokes 36A and 37A. These were fitted to Trials machines such as Cotton and DMW. In 1966 Peter Inchley, a Development Engineer working for Villiers, finished third in the Lightweight TT with an average of 91.63mph.
His machine, which developed some 36 BHP was mounted in a Bultaco frame and was beaten only by the works Hondas of Hailwood and Graham. In 1956 Villiers produced their two millionth engine and in 1957 absorbed J A Prestwich Industries (JAP). In early 1960 Villiers was taken over by Manganese Bronze Holdings, and in 1966 together with AMC became Norton-Villiers. In 1972 this merged with BSA to become Norton-Villiers-Triumph which eventually went into liquidation in 1978.
See you next issue,