You Were Asking
Looking through some of my late grandfather's literature, I found handwritten references to the Maplestone front fork, plus a poor photo. I don't think this was for a machine he had but rather that of a friend. Neither literature sources nor the internet offer any real help regarding the Maplestone fork, which to me looks like a conventional centre sprung girder front fork. What's the story?
Roger Francis, email, East Anglia.
Your penultimate sentence, Roger, hits the nail on the head:'... the Maplestone front fork ... looks like a conventional centre sprung girder front fork.' And although Jew will know of or have seen a Maplestone fork, we'll have seen the design, because it became the well known, widely used Webb girder front fork.
The clue to its origins is the kangaroo outline background image to the heading of the accompanying advert, culled from an advert in The Motor Cycle of May 5, 1921. This bespoke girder front fork - with bronze bushes as spindle bearings and steel forgings rather than cast lugs - was designed by Australian Norman (AN or Norm) Maplestone from Melbourne or nearby, just before the First World War.
Folklore implies Mr Maplestone later set sail for England and courted the daughter of Frank Baker, maker and designer of Precision engines, and in turn the first Maplestone front forks manufactured in the UK were produced by Precision. Later, Mr Maplestone and Miss Baker married and returned to Melbourne. Whether this tale has credence or romantic element is unknown to me, but it's a warming story.
What is certain is that soon after the First World War, the Maplestone Cantilever Spring Fork went into manufacture in England, by Maplestone Cantilever Spring Fork Ltd, of Stirchley, Birmingham. Who was the force (Norm Maplestone, Frank Baker or another?) behind this venture is uncertain, but what is certain, is that H C Webb & Co Ltd, Century Works, Aston Brook St, Birmingham, bought the Maplestone Cantilever Spring Fork Design (Reg No 673997) in 1922.
Early British makers fitting this design included Triple Hand Massey-Arran, then others soon followed suit and the name Maplestone remained as the brand for this fork for up to a couple of years after Webb's acquisition, then it was rebranded 'The Webb.' As such, these front forks became immensely popular in the UK and abroad for a huge range of machines fitted with proprietary front forks, from ultra lightweights through sporting/racing models, including Norton, Excelsior (Manxman) and Velocette, to selected lusty heavyweights whose makers chose Webb forks rather than manufacture their own.