Chapter 4

EARLY WOLSELEY SUCCESSES

Although the first of the two Wolseley cars just described is a highly interesting study to any Student of motoring history, it can only be compared to Daimler's first car of 1886 and Carl Benz’ first production of a year earlier as regards the influence it bore on subsequent design. It is well entitled to a place of honour in any Museum as the father of what has become a tradition in British automobilism. The reason why the general design of this car was not developed has been explained already, but in the second Wolseley car, there can be traced a number of valuable seeds which bore fruit subsequently and flourished for several years in Wolseley productions. True, the mechanism of this vehicle, by virtue of the fact that it was used for experimental and general research work, hardly remained the same from one month to another; it was in a constant state of flux, but for this very reason the service this car rendered to British automobilism was more valuable than that of its predecessor. It had, too, further virtues.

When a careful examination is made of early motor vehicles constructed in this country, the fact is palpable that they were but a development of some foreign-built car. The early twin-cylinder Napier was inspired by, and a general improvement on, the early Panhard productions, and the same may be said of the first British-built Daimlers and the M.M.C., while the "Coventry Motette” was to all intents a French Bollee made in this country.

This is no suggestion that these cars were any the worse for being. so, but the fact remains that they were not entirely original.

In the case of the Wolseley car No. 2, this is in a class by itself as being of entirely British design and manufacture. From this date onwards, in fact, all Wolseley cars were essentially individual in design, a fact which even as late as 1902 was emphasized in The Times edition of "Encyclopaedia Britannica."

In the third Wolseley car of 1899-1900, the first of the four wheeled vehicles of this make, we find the crystallization of ideas which were first traceable in car No. 1, and afterwards developed in the second three-wheeler. This third car incorporated features which were retained for many years by the Wolseley Company, and, in addition, this remarkable car proved to be a champion which, by reason of the marked success it achieved in the first great public trial ever held in this country, focused attention on what was then nothing more than a by-product of a company manufacturing mechanical sheep-shearing machines and machine tools.

Described as a "Wolseley Voiturette" the third Wolseley car was exhibited at a Motor Exhibition (termed the " Midland Cycle and Motor Car Exhibition from January 25th to February 3rd,1900. This Exhibition included certain trials for motor vehicles which were held on January 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st, and although the modern motorist may well smile at the nature thereof, he should never forget the year in which they were heId and the primitive designs then formulated by manufacturers who were doing little more than experimenting for the benefit of future productions.

These trials consisted of nothing more strenuous than a journey from Birmingham to Coventry and back-distance of some thirty-eight miles-plus a hill climb at Mucklow Hill, Halesowen, some six miles outside Birmingham. In those days, as indeed it still is, racing on the public highways was illegal, but if the trials in Question were not an organized race, they were something perilously near it, for each vehicle was timed over the course and the first car home was allotted the honoured place of No. 1.

The Wolseley car, driven by Herbert Austin, came home second. It completed the distance of 38 miles in 4 hours 58 minutes 45 seconds, and it succeeded in climbing Mucklow Hill-Halesowen about one mile in length in 11 minutes 2 seconds, beating. an Iveagh Phaeton by 46 seconds. Fir this creditable performance, it was awarded a silver medal, which is still treasured by the Company as the first award ever won by a Wolseley car.

It was, however, the remarkable performance of this same Wolseley car in the famous Thousand Miles Trial of 1900 that demonstrated to the public its reliability and capabilities. This great trial, which first established the British Motor Industry, was organized by the then youthful " Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland," for a double purpose; first, to subject the general ,design of cars of that day to a trial which could not fail to hold a candle to every weakness they possessed, and secondly to introduce the motor car to districts and highways which had so far remained almost immune from all forms of motor traffic. There were then thousands in this country who had never seen a motor car, and so the decision to use this trial as an introduction to the masses of this new form of locomotion, was of epoch-making importance. The severity of this long trial, multiplied many times by the introduction of hill-climbing contests-some compulsory and some optional-up several of the most notable bills in England, taxed to its utmost the capabilities of every car entered.

The itinerary and main features of the Thousand Miles Trial were briefly, follows:

April 23rd, 1900 London to Bristol

25th Bristol to Birmingham

27th Birmingham to Manchester

30th Manchester to Kendal

May 1st Kendal to Carlisle

2nd Carlisle to Edinburgh

4th Edinburgh to Newcastle

7th Newcastle to Leeds

9th Leeds to Sheffield

11th Sheffield to Nottingham

12th Nottingham to London

Hill-climbing trials took place up:

(a) Taddington Hill between Birmingham and Manchester

(b) Shap Fell, near Kendal

(d) Birkhill between Carlisle and Edinburgh.

Actually two Wolseley cars were entered, Nos. 53 and 40, but the former was never intended to complete the trial; it only ran over small portions of the early sections. For all practical purposes one Wolseley car (No. 40) ran and the regularity of its running and the little trouble it experienced throughout the whole trial was t striking feature of the event.

Driven by Herbert Austin, it was awarded the first prize under Class B, a prize of £10 awarded by The Daily Mail and the Silver Medal given by the Automobile Club de France. It completed the entire course at a speed not less than the legal limit, which was then 12 m.p.h. in England and 10 m.p.h. in Scotland, a feat only performed by eleven other cars. The average speeds recorded on the various hill-climbing tests were as follows:-

with a maximum grade

(a) Taddington Hill, with a maximum grade of 1 in 12 : 10.08 m.p.h.

(b) Shap Fell

(Steepest portion) 1 3/8 miles: 6.37 m.p.h;

(Lightest portion) 7 ¼ miles: 13.0 m.p.h.

(d) Birkhill : 8.6 m.p.h.

It is noteworthy that, contrary to a great number of other cars taking part, the passenger did not have to dismount once during the whole trial, including the test hills. The semi-official report of the cause of the various stoppages en route were as follows: -

· Between London and Bristol, the fastening of the belt came undone.

· Between Bristol and Birmingham, the wire cord to the carburettor broke, but this did not cause an actual stoppage.

· The belt broke, and one tyre, which was already worn, burst; 7 miles had to be covered on the rim.

· Between Birmingham and Manchester, a tyre punctured, which caused a delay of 20 minutes.

· Between Carlisle and Edinburgh, there were several punctures, causing a delay of about an hour.

· Between Edinburgh and Newcastle, more punctures were experienced, causing a delay of three-quarters of an hour.

· Between Nottingham and London a tyre burst; 10 minutes' delay.

The parts that had to be replaced during the trial were: -

· New wire cord to carburettor.

· New belt.

· New cover to rear tyre.

· New top spring plate.

· New cover to rear tyre at Edinburgh.

· New cover to rear tyre at Northampton.

· Belt re-fastened at St. Albans.

It was indeed a triumph for the Wolseley car, and its success was rendered all the more striking by virtue of the fact that, contrary to more than one other make of car taking part, there was no second string on which to fall back in the event of failure from any cause. Had this car, driven by its designer, failed, the name of Wolseley would have been unknown in the trial, or at the most, it would have been mentioned only as one of the " might-have-beens." It is not too much to state that its success laid the foundation-stone of the whole Wolseley Organization.

Let us examine the general design of this remarkable car.

One of the best descriptions given, although written some forty-five years after the car was made, appeared in The Autocar of November 16th, 1945, together with cut-away drawings. -

It was in 1899 that the first four-wheel Wolseley emerged; it cost £270.

This car was the direct result of an Engineer's experience in other fields of engineering. Take the engine as an example. Horizontal, and a single-cylinder, it had an inlet valve opened by the depressionon the inlet stroke, and closed when the piston began to return on the compression stroke. Only the exhaust valve was operated mechanically, by a cam on a shaft running along for all to see. The cylinder had a wet liner of cast iron making a watertight joint at the top of the water jacket through a conical machined seat, and at the other end bedding down upon a proper packing. The crankcase into which this liner fitted was of bronze, and later of aluminium alloy.

A detachable cast iron head carried the valves. The inlet valve seat was not in the head proper, but in a special detachable chamber, part of the inlet pipe. The piston was of cast iron with three rings, and the tubular connecting rod was secured to the piston by a gudgeon pin held at either end from the piston crown by what amounted to eye-bolts, of which the nuts were in the combustion space above the piston top.

Another point of interest was that the crankshaft was not only substantial, but also had large plain bearings and a flywheel at each end. On the exposed camshaft there were gears which drove a water pump, and this pump circulated water round the wet liner, the cylinder head itself, and then to a water tank provided with two tiers of finned cooling tubes to form, as it were, a double radiator.

Since electrical ignition was preferred to the much-vaunted tube, a contact maker was driven from the end of the camshaft, rather a crude contact maker by later knowledge, and this was wired up to an accumulator and coil, carefully housed out of the way of oil and dirt under the front seat, whilst the plug was in the centre of the cylinder head. A little later on the coil was moved to the dashboard.

As the engine, which was of 4½ in. bore by 5 in. stroke, ran at a maximum of 750 r.p.m., and gave 3 ½ to 4 h.p., though later this was increased to 5 h.p., the lubrication system was simple. A small oil tank mounted on the dashboard fed pipes leading to the bearings and crankcase through what were called "sight-feed" lubricators.

In days when the argument between the merits of the wick or surface carburettor and the jet was extremely violent it is interesting to find that from the beginning Wolseleys had a single-jet carburettor.

Again, the modern critic has to remember that the legal limit of speed was set at 12 m.p.h., and although some vehicles, this one for example, could attain 20 m.p.h. over a timed mile, the relatively low pace permitted transmissions which would not be entertained to-day. Partly because of that, and partly because of the simplicity and lightness, the earlier Wolseleys of this type had a belt drive from the crankshaft to the gearbox, soon to give place to a roller-chain and then to an inverted-tooth chain as the engine power increased.

The gearbox itself was a plain, normal three-speed standard fitting. The shafts were on roller bearings and the main shaft, driven by the engine, drove the layshaft through the gears, whilst the layshaft, through a spur gear differential, in turn drove sprockets for the chains to the rear wheels. There was no necessity to provide for what @o-day we call a direct drive, nor was a clutch necessary, because the belt could be moved gradually from a free to a power pulley to obtain the necessary effect.

The design foreshadowed the possibility of the gate for the gear lever, as the lever which shifted the gears moved sideways as well as forward in a series of long slots. The sideways movement meshed the required gear, the forward movement pushed the gearbox back on a pivot, and so by tightening the belt took up the drive.

Naturally the steering on the earliest vehicle of this type was by tiller, but the steering mechanism was more involved and certainly better than usual. The tiller projected from a shaft running up the dashboard, but below this shaft was a gear which operated a horizontal shaft with universal joints, in turn operating the worm of an encased worm and worm wheel on the front axle itself.

Chain adjustment was effected by pushing back the rear axle by means of adjustable radius rods, which were a trap for the unmechanicat in that it was possible to reset the rear axle out of parallel with the front.

It is satisfactory to know that all three cars described in this and the previous chapter are in the private museum of Wolseley Motors Limited.

After the Thousand Miles Trial, which had the effect of establishing on a sound basis the infant British motor industry, it became obvious that the Wolseley car, by virtue of the performance it had accomplished, was destined to take its place among the motor-cars of the world. A catalogue showing " The Wolseley Voiturette " was issued, orders for cars began to come in apace and it soon became clear that the Sheep-Shearing Machine Factory in Alma Street, Birmingham, would be unable to cope with the demand.

After the experience gained in the Thousand Miles Trial, the many lessons learnt were incorporated in an improved model introduced during June, 1900. It was the first Wolseley car ever fitted with wheel steering. The general lay-out will be gathered from the drawing.

It will be noticed that the original belt drive from the engine to the countershaft was retained as well as the method of swinging the whole of the gearbox on a pivot. The general appearance of this car was strikingly similar to subsequent Wolseley cars, and can, in fact, be considered as the first production model.

About this time, Herbert Austin was being consulted by Sir Hiram Maxim who was connected with the famous engineering firm of Vickers Sons and Maxim Ltd., about the design of what was then known as a steam-driven " flying machine " which he was constructing. The two men had much in common and a number of suggestions put out by Austin were adopted by Maxim. Many parts for this machine were designed and manufactured at the Wolseley Works, and the association between them became closer as time went on.

What came of it will be recorded in the next chapter.