BIRMINGHAM SMALL ARMS COMPANY

by Wikipedia

The Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was a British manufacturer of vehicles, firearms, and military equipment, and still exists as an airgun sport manufacturer and distributor.

At its peak, BSA was the largest motorcycle producer in the world. Loss of sales and poor investments in new products in the motorcycle division, which included Triumph Motorcycles, led to problems for the whole group.

History

BSA was founded in 1861 in the Gun Quarter, Birmingham, England by fourteen gunsmiths of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association, who had together supplied arms to the British government during the Crimean War. The company branched out as the gun trade declined; in the 1870s they manufactured the Otto Dicycle, in the 1880s the company began to manufacture bicycles and in 1903 the company's first experimental motorcycle was constructed. Their first prototype automobile was produced in 1907 and the next year the company sold 150 automobiles. By 1909 they were offering a number of motorcycles for sale and in 1910 BSA purchased the British Daimler Company for its automobile engines.

World War One

During World War I, the company returned to arms manufacture and greatly expanded its operations. BSA produced rifles, Lewis guns, shells, motorcycles and other vehicles for the war effort.

Inter-War years

1935 magazine advert for the BSA range of motorcycles and 3-wheeler cars

In 1920, it bought some of the assets of the Aircraft Manufacturing Company (Airco), which had built many important aircraft during the war but had become bankrupt due to the falloff in orders once hostilities ceased. BSA did not go into aviation; the chief designer Geoffrey de Havilland of Airco founded the de Havilland company.

As well as the Daimler car range, BSA re-entered the car market under their own name in 1921 with a V-twin engined light car followed by four-cylinder models up to 1926 when the name was temporarily dropped. In 1929 a new range of 3 and 4 wheel cars appeared and production of these continued until 1936.

In the 1930s the board of directors authorised expenditure on bringing their arms-making equipment back to use -- it had been stored at company expense since the end of the Great War in the belief that BSA might again be called upon to perform its patriotic duty.

In 1931 the Lanchester Motor Company was acquired and production of their cars transferred to Daimler's Coventry works.

World War Two

By World War II, BSA had 67 factories and was well positioned to meet the demand for guns and ammunition. BSA operations were also dispersed to other companies under licence. During the war it produced over a million Lee-Enfield rifles, Sten sub machine guns and half a million Browning machine guns. Wartime demands included motorcycle production. BSA supplied 126,000 M20 motorcycles to the armed forces, from 1937 (and later until 1950) plus military bicycles including the folding paratrooper bicycle. At the same time, the Daimler concern was producing armoured cars.

Post war

Sir Bernard Docker was chairman of BSA until 1951 with James Leek CBE Managing Director from 1939, after which Jack Sangster became Managing Director. Post-war, BSA continued to expand the range of metal goods it produced. The BSA Group bought Triumph Motorcycles in 1951, making them the largest producer of motorcycles in the world. The cycle and motor cycle interests of Ariel, Sunbeam and New Hudson were also acquired. Most of these had belonged to Sangster.

In 1960 Daimler was sold off to Jaguar.

The BSA bicycle arm was sold off to Raleigh in 1957. Bicycles under the BSA name are currently manufactured and distributed within India by TI Cycles of India.

The production of guns bearing the BSA name continued beyond the 1957 sale of the bicycle division, but in 1986 BSA Guns was liquidated, the assets bought and renamed BSA Guns (UK) Ltd. The company continues to make air rifles and shotguns, and are still based in Small Heath in Birmingham.

Norton-Villiers-Triumph

The Group continued to expand and acquire throughout the 1950s but by 1965 competition from Japan (in the shape of companies like Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki) and Europe from Jawa / CZ, Bultaco and Husqvarna was eroding BSA's market share. The BSA (and Triumph range) were no longer aligned with the markets; mopeds were displacing scooter sales, superbike engine capacity had risen to 1000 cc and the trials and scrambles areas were now the preserve of European two-strokes. Some poor marketing decisions and expensive projects contributed to substantial losses. For example, the development and production investment of the Ariel 3, an ultra stable 3 wheel moped, was not recouped by sales; the loss has been estimated at some 2 million pounds.

In 1968 BSA announced many changes to its product line of singles, twins and the new three cylinder machine named the "Rocket three" for the 1969 model year. It now concentrated on the more promising USA and to a lesser extent Canadian markets. However, despite the adding of modern accessories, for example, turn signals and even differing versions of the A65 twins for home and export sale, the damage had been done and the end was near.

Reorganisation in 1971 concentrated motorcycle production at Meriden, Triumph's site, with production of components and engines at BSA's Small Heath. At the same time there were redundancies and the selling of assets. Barclays Bank arranged financial backing to the tune of 10 million.

Upgrades and service bulletins continued until 1972, but the less service intensive Japanese bikes had by then flooded the market on both sides of the Atlantic. The merger to Norton Villers was started in late 1972 and for a brief time a Norton 500 single was built with the B50 based unit-single engine but few if any were sold publicly. The BSA unit single B50's 500 cc enjoyed much improvement in the hands of the CCM motorcycle company allowing the basic BSA design to continue until the mid to late 1970s in a competitive form all over Europe.

By 1972, BSA was so moribund that with bankruptcy imminent, and with government backing its motorcycle businesses were absorbed into the Manganese Bronze company, Norton-Villiers, which became Norton-Villiers-Triumph with the intention of producing and marketing Norton and Triumph motorcycles. The shareholders of BSA confirmed the deal. Although the BSA name was left out of the new company's name, a few products continued to be made carrying it until 1973. The final range was just four models: Gold Star 500, 650 Thunderbolt/Lightning and the 750 cc Rocket Three.

However, the plan involved the axing of some brands, large redundancies and consolidation of production at two sites. This scheme to rescue and combine Norton, BSA and Triumph failed in the face of worker resistance. Norton's and BSA's factories were eventually shut down, while Triumph staggered on to fail four years later.

Out of the ashes of receivership, the NVT Motorcycles Ltd company which owned the rights to the BSA marque, was bought-out by the management and renamed the BSA Company.

The BSA bicycle arm had been sold to Raleigh in 1956 and the BSA Winged-B logo was still seen for a while on up-market bicycles.

Limited revival

The BSA company produced military motorcycles (with Rotax engines) and motorcycles for developing countries (with Yamaha engines) under the BSA name. In the later case the old "Bushman" name was recalled to duty -- it had been previously used on high ground clearance Bantams sold for the likes of Australian sheep farmers.

In 1991, the BSA (motorcycle) Company merged with Andover Norton International Ltd., to form a new BSA Group, largely producing spare parts for existing motorcycles. In December 1994, BSA Group was taken over by a newly formed BSA Regal Group. The new company, based in Southampton, has a large spares business and has produced a number of limited-edition, retro-styled motorcycles.

Products

Bicycles

Bicycle manufacture was what led BSA into motorcycles. The subsidiary business BSA Bicycles Ltd was sold to Raleigh Industries in 1957.

Motorcycles

The first wholly BSA motorcycles were built in 1910, before then engines had come from other manufacturers. BSA Motorcycles Ltd was set up as a subsidiary in 1919.

BSA motorcycles were sold as affordable motorcycles with reasonable performance for the average user. BSA stressed the reliability of their machines, the availability of spares and dealer support. The motorcycles were a mixture of sidevalve and OHV engines offering different performance for different roles, e.g. hauling a sidecar. The bulk of use would be for commuting. BSA motorcycles were also popular with "fleet buyers" in Britain, who (for example) used the Bantams for telegram delivery for the Post Office or motorcycle/sidecar combinations for AA patrols Automobile Association (AA) breakdown help services. This mass market appeal meant they could claim "one in four is a BSA" on advertising.

Machines with better specifications were available for those who wanted more performance or for competition work.

Initially, after World War II, BSA motorcycles were not generally seen as racing machines, compared to the likes of Norton. In the immediate post war period few were entered in races such as the TT races, though this changed dramatically in the Junior Clubman event (smaller engine motorcycles racing over some 3 or 4 laps around one of the Isle of Man courses). In 1947 there were but a couple of BSA mounted riders, but by 1952 BSA were in the majority and in 1956 the makeup was 53 BSA, 1 Norton and 1 Velocette.

To improve US sales, in 1954, for example, BSA entered a team of riders in the 200 mile Daytona beach race with a mixture of single cylinder Gold Stars and twin cylinder Shooting Stars assembled by Roland Pike. The BSA team riders amazingly took first, second, third, fourth, and fifth places with two more riders finishing at 8th and 16th. This was the first case of a one brand sweep.[1]

The BSA factory experienced success in the sport of motocross with Jeff Smith riding a B40 to capture the 1964 and 1965 FIM 500 cc Motocross World Championships. It would be the last year the title would be won by a four-stroke machine until the mid-1990s. A BSA motocross machine was often colloquially known as a "Beezer."

Motorcycle models

Pre World War II
G14 1000 cc V-twin
Empire Star
Blue Star
Silver Star
Gold Star
Sloper
M20
as the WD M20 the motorcycle of the British Army in WW2

Post World War II

1957 BSA Golden Flash 650

1969 BSA Royal StarA series Twins (four-stroke, parallel twin)

A7
A7 Shooting Star
A10
A10 Golden Flash
A10 Road Rocket
A10 Super Rocket
A10 Super Flash
A10 Rocket Gold Star
A50
A50R Royal Star
A50C Cyclone
A50W Wasp
A65
A65 Star Twin
A65L Lightning
A65R Rocket
A65T Thunderbolt
A65H Hornet
A65S Spitfire
A65F Firebird Scrambler
A70L Lightning 750
Triples - the BSA Rocket 3/Triumph Trident were co-developed, and resultantly the Rocket3 shares a majority of engine components and cycle parts with the Triumph Trident (see Triumph Motorcycles), but has BSA "slanted" engine cases, and BSA frame and tinware.
A75R Rocket3 750
A75RV Rocket3 750 - 5 speed
A75V Rocket3 750 - 5 speed
B series (4 stroke single cylinder)and (4 stroke twin)
B25 Fleet Star
B25 Starfire
B25 Barracuda
B25 SS Gold Star
BSA B31 single and B31 Twin (350 cc).This information is not available easily. B31 frame was used with a Triumph 3T motor to produce this BSA B31 Twin. Very few units were produced, probably prototypes.
B32 Gold Star
B33
B34 Gold Star
B40 350 Star
B40 SS90
B44 Victor
B44
B44SS Shooting Star
B44VS Victor Special
B50
B50SS Gold Star 500
B50T Victor Trials
B50MX Motocross
C series (Four-stroke unit singles).
C10
C11/C11G: 12 hp (9 kW) - 70 mph (110 km/h) - 85mpg - weight 250 lb (113 kg).
The C11 used a C10 motor fitted with OHV top end. The frame on the C11 was almost unchanged until 1951 when BSA fitted a plunger rear end making only a little improvement to the quality of the ride. Early gearboxes were weak and were know to explode. The C11G was available as a 3 speed with rigid frame or 4 speed with the plunger frame version. Both models had better front brakes than earlier models. This model was a popular all round commuter motorcycle, and many can still be seen around today.
C12
(1956 - 1958). 249 cc OHV
C15 Star
C15T Trials
C15S Scrambler
C15SS80 Sports Star 80
C15 Sportsman
D series (Two-stroke single cylinder. See BSA Bantam for details)
D1
D3
D5
D7
D10
D13
D14/4
B175
Others (may include some export versions of models listed above)
BSA Barracuda
BSA Beagle
BSA Brigand - late 70s moto-cross style product by NVT with imported 50 cc 2 stroke engine.
BSA Dandy 70
BSA Sunbeam (Scooters, also produced as Triumph TS1, TW2 Tigress)
175B1
250B2
BSA Starfire
BSA Rocket Scrambler
BSA Rocket Gold Star
BSA Fury
BSA Hornet
Winged Wheel (auxiliary power unit for bicycles)
T65 Thunderbolt (essentially a Triumph TR6P with BSA Badges)

Cars

BSA Scout

Car timeline

1907 to 1914 various forms with capacities ranging from 2.5 to 4.2 litre. The larger cars were based on the 1907 Peking-Paris Itala.
1910 BSA purchased the Daimler Company who took over car manufacture.
1911 BSA car with Daimler engine.
1912 Car production transferred to Coventry, BSA cars became rebadged Daimlers.
1914 War stopped car production
1921 BSA car production resumed with rear-wheel-drive air-cooled V-twin light car.
1929 First BSA three-wheeler
1931 TW-5 van version of the three-wheeler
1931 BSA acquired Lanchester.
1932 T-9 open four seat four-wheeler with a water-cooled four cylinder 9 hp (6.7 kW) engine (1075 cc).
1932 V-9 Van version also produced.
1932 Another BSA Rear-wheel-drive fluid flywheel 10 hp (7.5 kW) car, sold alongside the T9.
1932 FW32 Four wheeled version of the 3-wheeler produced for 1 year
1933 T-9 and V-9 production ceased
1933 Four-cylinder engine version of the three and four-wheeled car was added to the range.
1935 First Scout Series 2/3
1936 to 1937 Scout Series 4
1936 Three wheeled cars dropped
1937 to 1938 Scout Series 5
1938 to 1939 Scout Series 6
1940 WWII stopped production of BSA cars
1960 Jaguar Cars Ltd. acquired The Daimler Co. Ltd. and its subsidiaries from the BSA group.

Military vehicles

BSA Scout armoured car.
"Type G Apparatus", Folding paratrooper bicycle, 32½ lb (15 kg) with parachute.

Military Firearms

Besa machine gun
Lee Enfield rifle
Sten submachine gun

Civilian Firearms

The 1906 war office patern rifle[1]
The Sportsman series of .22lr bolt action rifles
Various Martini action target .22lr rifles[2]
The Ralock and Armatic semi automatic .22lr rifles[3]
Various bolt action hunting rifles mostly in .243 and .270 calibre

Air rifles

BSA CF2
BSA AirSporter Air Rifle
BSA Buccaneer Air Rifle
BSA Mercury Air Rifle
BSA Meteor Air Rifle
BSA Comet Air Rifle
BSA Lightning Air Rifle
BSA Lightning XL Air Rifle Carbine
BSA Superstar Air Rifle
BSA Goldstar Air Rifle
BSA Hornet Air Rifle
BSA Supersport Air Rifle
BSA Ultra Air Rifle
BSA Superten Air Rifle
BSA Spitfire Air Rifle

Air pistols

BSA Scorpion Air Pistol

References

http://www.rifleman.org.uk/War_Office_Pattern_Miniature_Rifle.htm
http://www.rifleman.org.uk/BSA_small-bore_target_rifles.html
http://www.rifleman.org.uk/BSA_Ralock_and_Armatic_semi-auto_rifles.htm
BSA Rocket 3 and Triumph Trident

Gottlieb Daimler

by Wikipedia

Gottlieb Daimler

Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (March 17, 1834 - March 6, 1900) was an engineer, industrial designer and industrialist, born in Schorndorf (Kingdom of Württemberg), in what is now Germany. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development.

Daimler and his lifelong business partner partner Wilhelm Maybach were two inventors whose dream was to create small, high speed engines to be mounted in any kind of locomotion device. They patented in 1885 a precursor of the modern petrol engine which they subsequently fitted to a two-wheeler, considered the first motorcycle and, in the next year, to a stagecoach, and a boat. They are renowned as the inventors of this Grandfather Clock engine.

Later, in 1890, they founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG). They sold their first automobile in 1892. Daimler fell ill taking a break from the company and upon his return experienced difficulty with the other stock holders that led to his resignation in 1893 that was reversed in 1894. Soon Maybach resigned also and he returned at the same time as Daimler. In 1900 Daimler died and Maybach quit DMG in 1907. In 1924, the DMG management signed a long term co-operation agreement with Karl Benz's Benz & Cie., and in 1926 the two companies merged to become Daimler-Benz AG, which is now part of Daimler AG.

Early life (1834 to 1852)

Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler was the son of a baker named Johannes Däumler (Daimler) and his wife Frederika, from the town of Schorndorf near Stuttgart, Württemberg. By the age of thirteen (1847), he had completed his six years of primary studies in Lateinschule where he had also had additional drawing lessons on Sundays and expressed an interest in engineering. The next year, he started studying gunsmithing; building with his teacher, Riedel, a double-barreled gun.

Again, Daimler became restless in his studies as his main interest still lay in engineering. In 1852 when eighteen, he finally decided to take up mechanical engineering, and left his hometown. He worked at several firms, not least Armstrong-Whitworth,[1] before ending up at Deutz.

The Otto Four-Stroke engine (1876)

In 1872 (at age thirty-eight), Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach moved to work at the world's largest manufacturer of stationary engines of the time, the Deutz-AG-Gasmotorenfabrik in Cologne. It was half-owned by Nikolaus August Otto who was looking for a new technical director. As directors, both Daimler and Otto focused on gas-engine development while Maybach was chief designer.

In 1876, Otto invented the Four-stroke cycle also known as the Otto Cycle a system characterized by four piston strokes (intake, compression, power, and exhaust). Otto intended that his invention would replace the steam engines predominant in those years, even though his engine was still primitive and inefficient. Otto's engine was patented in 1877, but the patent was soon challenged and overturned. Unknown to Otto, Daimler, and Maybach, in Mannheim during 1878 Karl Benz was concentrating all his efforts on creating a reliable two-stroke gas engine based on the same principle. Benz finished his engine on December 31, 1878, New Year's Eve, and was granted a patent for his engine in 1879.

Meanwhile, serious personal differences arose between Daimler and Otto, reportedly with Otto being jealous of Daimler, because of his university background and knowledge. Daimler was fired in 1880, receiving 112 Gold-marks in Deutz-AG shares in compensation for the patents of both Daimler and Maybach. Maybach resigned later.

Daimler Motors: small, high speed engines (1882)

Daimler's summerhouse (Cannstatt)

After leaving Deutz-AG, Daimler and Maybach began to work together. In 1882, they moved back to Stuttgart in Southern Germany, purchasing a cottage in Cannstatt's Taubenheimstrasse, with 75,000 Gold marks from the compensation from Deutz-AG. In the garden, they added a brick extension to the roomy glass-fronted summerhouse and this became their workshop. Eventually, their activities alarmed the neighbors who called the police and reported them as suspected counterfeiters. The police obtained a key from their gardener and raided the house in their absence, but found only engines.

In 1890 Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (Daimler Engines Company) or DMG, was founded with Maybach as chief designer. Its purpose was the construction of small, high speed engines for use on land, water, and air transport. The three uses is the basis for the modern Mercedes-Benz logo of a three-pointed star.

Daimler and Maybach spent long hours debating how best to fuel Otto's Four-Stroke design, and turned to a byproduct of petroleum. The main distillates of petroleum at the time were lubricating oil, kerosene (burned as lamp fuel), and benzine, which up to then was used mainly as a cleaner and was sold in pharmacies.

The Grandfather Clock Engine (1885)

In late 1885, Daimler and Maybach developed the first of their engines, which is often considered the precursor of all modern petrol engines. It featured:

a single horizontal cylinder of 264cc (16 in3)[2] (58×100mm, 2.28×3.94 in)[3]
air cooling
large cast iron flywheel
hot tube ignition system (patent 28022)
cam operated exhaust valves, allowing high speed operation
0.5hp (370W)[4]
600[citation needed] rpm running speed, beating previous engines which typically ran at about 120 to 180 rpm
weight around 50 kg (110 pd)[5]
height 76 cm (30 in)[6]

In 1885, they created a carburetor which mixed gasoline with air allowing its use as fuel. In the same year Daimler and Maybach assembled a larger version of their engine, still relatively compact, but now with a vertical cylinder of 100 cm² displacement and an output of 1 hp at 600 rpm (patent DRP-28-022: "non-cooled, heat insulated engine with unregulated hot-tube ignition"). It was baptized the Standuhr (Grandfather Clock), because Daimler thought it resembled an old pendulum clock. This is probably the same internal-combustion engine referred to by American author and historian Henry Adams, who, in his autobiography, describes the "Daimler motor"[7] at the Paris Exposition of 1910[8]

The first motorcycle (1885)

In November 1885, Daimler installed a smaller version of this engine in a wooden bicycle, creating the first motorcycle (Patent 36-423impff & Sohn "Vehicle with gas or petroleum drive machine"). It was named the "riding car" (Reitwagen). Maybach rode it for three kilometers (two miles) alongside the river Neckar, from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim, reaching 12 km/h (7 mph).

Also in 1885 Karl Benz built a three wheeled automobile and was granted a patent for it dated January 29, 1886.

On March 8, 1886, Daimler and Maybach secretly brought a stagecoach made by Wilhelm Wafter to the house, telling the neighbors it was a birthday gift for Mrs. Daimler. Maybach supervised the installation of a larger 1.1 hp[9] 462cc (28in3)[10] (70×120mm, 2.76×4.72 in)[11] version of the Grandfather Clock engine into this and it became the first four wheeled vehicle to reach 16 km/h (10 mph). The engine power was transmitted by a set of belts. Like the motor cycle, it also was tested on the road to Untertürkheim where nowadays the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion is situated.

Driven by Daimler's desire to use his engine as many ways as possible,[12] Daimler and Maybach also used the engine in other types of transport including:

• on water (1887), by mounting it in a 4.5 meters long boat and achieving a speed of 6 knots (11 km/h). The boat was called Neckar after the river it was tested on. (patent DRP 39-367). Boat engines would become Daimler's main product for several years. The first customers expressed fear the petrol engine could explode, so Daimler hid the engine with a ceramic cover and told them it was "Oil-Electrical".

• street-cars and trolleys.

• in the air in Daimler's balloon, usually regarded as the first airship, where it replaced a hand-operated-engine designed by Dr. Friedrich Hermann Woelfert of Leipzig. With the new engine, Daimler successfully flew over Seelberg on August 10, 1888.

They sold their first foreign licenses for engines in 1887 and Maybach went as company representative to the Paris World's Fair to show their achievements.

First Daimler-Maybach automobile (1889)

Engine sales increased, mostly for boat use, and in June 1887, Daimler bought another property at Seelberg hill, Cannstatt. It was located some distance from the town on Ludwigstraße 67 because Cannstatt's mayor did not approve of the workshop which cost 30,200 gold marks. The new premises had room for twenty-three employees and Daimler managed the commercial issues while Maybach ran the Design Department.

In 1889, Daimler and Maybach built their first automobile that did not involve adapting a horse drawn carriage with their engine, but was somewhat influenced by bicycle designs. There was no production in Germany, but it was licensed to be built in France and presented to the public in Paris in October 1889 by both inventors. The same year, Daimler's wife, Emma Kunz, died.

The Phoenix engine (1890 to 1900)

Daimler and Maybach were struggling financially with the company, they were not selling enough engines or making enough money from their patents. Two financiers and munitions makers, Max Von Duttenhofer and William Lorenz, along with the influential banker Kilian von Steiner agreed to inject some capital and converted the company on November 28, 1890 into a public corporation named the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, DMG.

Many German historians consider this Daimler's "pact with the devil".  DMG expanded, but it changed. The newcomers, not believing in automobile production, ordered the creation of additional stationary building capacity, and also considered merging DMG with Otto's Deutz-AG.

Daimler and Maybach preferred plans to produce automobiles and reacted against Duttenhofer and Lorenz. Maybach was denied a seat on the Board and on February 11, 1891, left the company. He continued his design work as a freelance in Cannstatt from his own house, with Daimler's support, moving to the closed Hermann Hotel in the autumn of 1892 using its ballroom and winter garden, employing twelve workers and five apprentices.

Finally, in 1892, DMG sold its first automobile. Gottlieb Daimler, at age fifty-eight, had heart problems and suffered a collapse in the winter of 1892/1893. His doctor prescribed a trip to Florence, Italy where he met Lina Hartmann, a widow twenty-two years his junior, and owner of the hotel where he was staying. They married on July 8, 1893, honeymooning in Chicago during its World Fair.

The disputes with Lorenz continued. Daimler attempted to buy 102 extra shares to get a majority holding, but was forced out of his post as technical director. The company also was in debt to the amount of 400,000 gold marks and the other directors threatened to declare bankruptcy if Daimler didn't sell them all his shares and all his personal patent rights from the previous thirty years. Daimler accepted the option, receiving 66,666 gold marks, resigning in 1893.

In 1894 at the Hermann Hotel, Maybach together with Daimler and his son Paul designed a third engine called the Phoenix and had DMG make it. It featured:

four cylinders cast in one block arranged vertically and parallel
camshaft operated exhaust valves
a spray nozzle carburetor, patented by Maybach in 1893
an improved belt drive system

It became famous around the world and when fitted to a car it won the petrol engine category of the first car race in history, the Paris to Rouen 1894.

The ill defined relationship between the inventors and DMG harmed the image of DMG's technical department. This continued until during 1894 when the British industrialist Frederick Simms made it a condition of his 350,000 mark purchase of a Phoenix engine license, which would stabilize the company finances, that Daimler, now aged sixty, should return to DMG. Gottlieb Daimler received 200,000 gold marks in shares, plus a 100,000 bonus. Simms received the right to use the Daimler brand name. In 1895, the year DMG assembled its 1000th engine, Maybach also returned as chief engineer, receiving 30,000 in shares.

During this period, their agreed licenses to build Daimler engines around the world included:

France, from 1890, by Panhard et Levassor and Peugeot
USA, from 1891, by German piano maker Steinway
United Kingdom, from 1896, by Frederick Simms as his Daimler Motor Company
Austria, by Austro Daimler
Daimler died in 1900, and in 1907 Maybach resigned from DMG.

Personal life

In a letter to his wife in the 1870s there was historically significant remark. On a panoramic postcard of Cologne, Gottieb Daimler traced a three pointed star, writing: "one day this star will shine over our triumphant factories". The motto inspired Daimler and Maybach to use petrol engines in three ways, on land, water and air. After more than two decades, under Paul and Adolf Daimler's initiative, Daimler's star became the trademark of DMG-Mercedes. Gottlieb Daimler was accepted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1978. Daimler has a stadium named after him in Stuttgart, Germany. The Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion was the venue for six matches in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Gottlieb Daimler's motto was: “Nothing but the best.”

References

Georgano, G.N. Cars: Early and Vintage 1886-1930 (London: Grange-Universal, 1990), p.9.
Georgano, G. N. Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886-1930. (London: Grange-Universal, 1990), p.13.
Georgano, p.13.
Georgano, p.13.
Georgano, p.13.
Georgano, p.13.
Kolocotroni, Goldman, and Taxidou, p.42.
Kolocotroni, Goldman, and Taxidou, p.41.
Georgano, p.13.
Georgano, p.13.
Georgano, p.13.
Georgano, p.13.

Nicolaus Otto

by Wikipedia

Nikolaus Otto

Nikolaus August Otto (June 14, 1832 Holzhausen an der Haide, Nassau - January 26, 1891 Cologne) was the German inventor of the first internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber. Although other internal combustion engines had been invented (e.g. by Étienne Lenoir) these were not based on four separate strokes. The concept of four strokes is likely to have been around at the time of Otto's invention but he was the first to make it practical. [1]

Otto's Life

Nikolaus August Otto was born June, 14 1832. He was born in the small city of Holzhausen, Germany. It was here that he obtained his primary education; but in 1848, when Otto was only sixteen, he left school. He started earning a living by working at a grocery store, and later moved to Cologne. After first seeing Etienne Lenoir’s gas-coal engine design, in 1859, Otto began experimenting with internal combustion engines.

In 1861 Otto had built his first engine based on Lenoir’s design. In 1864, Otto co-founded an engine manufacturing business in Cologne. Along with his business partner Eugen Langen he established “N.A. Otto & Cie.”. This company exists today as “Deutz AG”, who boasts the fact that they are the world's oldest engine manufacturers, with over 140 years of experience. Otto’s company first produced a two stroke engine in 1867. The first major breakthrough at Otto's company was during its founding year, with the development of the "atmospheric gas power machine". This atmospheric engine was later awarded a Gold Medal at the World Exhibition in Paris as an economical drive engine for small businesses. Manufacturing of these engines began in 1868. In 1872 Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach joined his company for a while and together they produced the idea of the four-stroke cycle or, Otto cycle engine, which was first described in 1876. In 1877 Otto received a patent for the “Otto Cycle”, and In 1882, the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Wurzburg awarded Otto with an honorary doctorate[2].

In 1884, Otto once again revolutionized engine design. At this point in time internal combustion engines were stationary due to the fact that they could not run on liquid fuel. They were run with gas, and required a pilot light in order to operate. This changed with the introduction of a low-voltage magneto ignition. This electrical ignition system allows engines to use liquid fuel, making mobile use possible.

Otto’s competitors discredited his Otto Cycle patent in 1886, with a discovery of a pamphlet in which a French engineer named, Alphonse-Eugène Beau de Rochas, had earlier suggested the four stroke engine. This annulled Otto’s patent, but by this time Otto’s engines were the only internal combustion engines widely used. The Otto Cycle engine is the engine that is most widely used today in automobiles, motorcycles and motorboats. Nikolaus August Otto died on January, 26 1891[3].

Engine development

Daimler and Maybach left Deutz-AG-Gasmotorenfabrik in 1890 and established Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (Daimler Engines Company) or DMG. Its purpose was the construction of small, high speed engines based on the same technology they helped discover at Otto's firm. In 1885 Daimler and Maybach designed and built a motorcycle with an engine of the Otto Cycle type that they patented. In 1886 they placed a stationary engine into a stagecoach as an experiment and, in 1889, designed and built their first automobile. In 1892 they first sold an automobile to a customer.

In 1900 Daimler died and in 1909 Maybach left Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. In 1926, their successors at DMG merged with the Karl Benz company, forming Daimler-Benz which is now known as Mercedes-Benz.

Otto Cycle

This engine was designed as a stationary engine and in the action of the engine, the stroke is an upward or downward movement of a piston in a cylinder. Used later in an adapted form as an automobile engine, four up-down strokes are involved: (1) downward intake stroke—coal-gas and air enter the piston chamber, (2) upward compression stroke—the piston compresses the mixture, (3) downward power stroke—ignites the fuel mixture by electric spark, and (4) upward exhaust stroke—releases exhaust gas from the piston chamber. Otto only sold his engine as a stationary motor.

Earlier patents

According to recent historical studies, the Italian inventors Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci patented a first working efficient version of an internal combustion engine in 1854 in London (pt. Num. 1072). It is claimed that the Otto engine is in many parts at least inspired from this precedent invention [4], but, as yet there is no documentation of knowledge about the Italian engine by Otto.

Return to Table of Contents