Armstrong Siddeley

Armstrong Siddeley Motors
legal form	Corporation
founding	1919
resolution	1960
Seat	Coventry , UK
Branch	Vehicle construction , engine construction

Sapphire 346, built in 1956

Armstrong Siddeley Motors was a British manufacturer of passenger cars , aircraft engines and mechanical equipment based in Coventry .

history

The company went out in 1919 from the merger of the automobile manufacturer Siddeley Deasy Motor Car Corp. with the vehicle and engine division of the industrial group Armstrong Whitworth & Co. forth. In 1935 it was merged with Hawker Aircraft . Both companies then formed the Hawker-Siddeley Group . In addition to automobiles and aircraft engines, gearboxes for tanks and buses , rocket and torpedo engines and railway wagons were produced there. With the subsidiary Burlington , Armstrong Siddeley had its own body manufacturer, which offered standardized factory bodies from the start.

Armstrong Siddeley remained as a brand until 1959. The merger with Bristol Aero Engines Ltd. 1959 led to the establishment of the engine manufacturer Bristol Siddeley . In 1966, Bristol Siddeley became part of the Rolls-Royce Group . The naming rights from the automotive production including documents and remaining parts was to the newly founded Armstrong Siddeley Owners Club Ltd sold.

Products

Automobiles

Armstrong Siddeley's first automobile was a fairly large model, a 5-liter 30-hp. A smaller 18 hp was introduced in 1922 and the 14 hp with 2 liter displacement in 1923. In 1928 the first six-cylinder was offered with the 15 hp and in 1929 a 12 hp came. In the same year, a Wilson preselector was offered as an option for the first time . From 1933 it was standard equipment for all of the manufacturer's cars. In 1930 Armstrong Siddeley offered four models, the 12 hp, 15 hp, 20 hp and 30 hp, the latter costing £ 1,450  .

In the 1930s a number of six-cylinder models with overhead engines were offered, but the four-cylinder 12 hp model also remained in the range until 1936. In 1933 the Special with a five-liter, six-cylinder aluminum engine was announced at a price of £ 950. After the start of the Second World War , vehicle production continued to a lesser extent in 1940 and a few cars were also made in 1941.

In the week after the end of the war in Europe, Armstrong Siddeley presented the first post-war models: the four-door Lancaster sedan and the Hurricane convertible . The names were borrowed from the production of war aircraft of the Hawker Siddeley Group (since 1935). Both models had a 2.0-liter six-cylinder engine, which was bored out to 2.3 liters in 1949. From 1953 there was the Sapphire 346 with a six-cylinder engine with 3.4 liters displacement.

1956 the model range was expanded by the Sapphire 234 (2.3 liter four-cylinder) and the Sapphire 236 (2.3 liter six-cylinder). The model 346 got a hood ornament in the form of a sphinx as a reference to the aircraft engines of the same name. The smaller Sapphire models also heralded the end of the car brand: Jaguar had brought out a 2.4-liter sedan with a self-supporting body in 1955, which was faster, significantly cheaper and more elegant than the old-fashioned Armstrong Siddeley.

The last Armstrong-Siddeley model was the Star Sapphire in 1958 with a 4-liter engine and BorgWarner automatic transmission. In 1960 the last car of this brand left the Coventry factory.

Models

Type	Construction period	Cylinder / valve control	Displacement	power	image
30 hp	1919-1931	6 / ohv	4960 cc
18 hp	1921-1925	6 / ohv	2318 cc
4/14 hp	1923-1925	4 / ohv	1852 cc
4/14 hp Mark II	1925-1929	4 / ohv	1852 cc
18 hp Mark II	1925-1926	6 / ohv	2872 cc
20 hp	1926-1932	6 / sv	2872 cc
15 hp	1927-1929	6 / sv	1900 cc
15 hp Mark II	1928-1934	6 / sv	1928 cc
12 hp	1929-1931	6 / sv	1236 cc
12 hp Mark II	1931-1936	6 / sv	1434 cc
New 20 hp	1932-1936	6 / ohv	3190 cc
Special	1933-1937	6 / ohv	4960 cc	124 bhp (91 kW)
17 hp	1935-1939	6 / ohv	2394 cc	60 bhp (44 kW)
12 hp Mark III	1936-1937	6 / ohv	1666 cc	48 bhp (35 kW)
20/25 hp	1936-1939	6 / ohv	3670 cc	85 bhp (62.5 kW)
14 hp	1937-1939	6 / ohv	1666 cc	48 bhp (35 kW)
16-Six	1938-1941	6 / ohv	1990 cc	62 bhp (46 kW)
20 hp Mark II	1939-1940	6 / ohv	2783 cc
Lancaster / Hurricane / Typhoon / Tempest 16 hp	1945-1949	6 / ohv	1991 cc	70 bhp (51 kW)
Lancaster / Hurricane / Typhoon / Tempest / Whitley 18 hp	1949-1954	6 / ohv	2309 cc	75 bhp (55 kW)
Lancaster / Whitley 18 hp	1950-1952	6 / ohv	2309 cc	75 bhp (55 kW)
Sapphire 346	1953-1960	6 / ohv	3435 cc	120–150 bhp (88–110 kW)
Sapphire 234	1953-1958	4 / ohv	2290 cc	120 bhp (88 kW)
Sapphire 236	1955-1957	6 / ohv	2309 cc	85 bhp (62.5 kW)
Star Sapphire	1958-1960	6 / ohv	3990 cc	120–140 bhp (88–103 kW)

Clubs

As with many British car brands, Armstrong Siddeley has a number of active clubs that support owners in various countries in maintaining and using their vehicles, for example in Great Britain , Australia , New Zealand , the Netherlands and Germany . The Armstrong Siddeley Owners Club Ltd (ASOC) has members worldwide. In Great Britain the ASOC publishes the monthly membership magazine Sphinx , in Australia the corresponding magazine is called Southern Sphinx and appears every two months. In the Netherlands there is also a magazine in the local language six times a year and the Sphinx-NZ in New Zealand appears monthly.

Aircraft engines

In the 1920s and 1930s Armstrong Siddeley built a range of small and medium radial engines for aircraft, all named after big cats. A small two-cylinder engine called the Ounce was also built; Ounce is another name for the snow leopard ; the engine was intended for an ultralight aircraft .

In 1939 the manufacturer began work on its first gas turbine . The aircraft engine was called ASX (Armstrong Siddeley Experimental) and was designed as a pure jet turbine. Later it was adapted so that it could also drive a propeller , creating the first turboprop ASP . From then on, the Armstrong-Siddeley turbines were named after Schlangen. Mamba and Double Mamba were turboprop machines, the latter was a combination of two adjacent Mambas, which had a common transmission and powered the Fairey Gannet . The Python turboprop was built into the Westland Wyvern . The Mamba was further developed into the Adder while saving the gearbox .

Another pioneering act in the development of aircraft engines was Metropolitan Vickers (Metrovick), whose first design Metrovick F.2 got stuck in the prototype stage. This became the larger Beryl engine and later the even larger Sapphire engine. Armstrong Siddeley later took over the design of the Sapphire and developed it into one of the most successful jet turbines of the second generation.

The company also developed an engine - originally for unmanned GAF Jindivik - drones - named Viper . This engine was later further developed by Bristol Siddeley and Rolls-Royce and produced in large numbers for many years. A number of rocket engines have also been manufactured, e.g. B. the snarler and the stentor . The rocket development complemented that of Bristol and so Bristol Siddeley became the leading British manufacturer of rocket propulsion systems for guided missiles.

Models

Type	Construction year	design type	image
Boarhound	1935	24-cylinder radial engine (4 stars), prototype only
Cheetah	1935	7-cylinder radial engine
Civet	1928	7-cylinder radial engine
Cougar	1945	9-cylinder radial engine, prototype only
Deerhound	1935	21-cylinder radial engine (three stars), prototype only
Genet	1926	5-cylinder radial engine
Genet Major	1928	5-cylinder radial engine (later: 7 cylinders)
Hyena	1933	15-cylinder radial engine (three stars), prototype only
jaguar	1922	14-cylinder radial engine (two stars)
leopard	1927	14-cylinder radial engine (two stars)
Lynx	1920	7-cylinder radial engine
Mongoose	1926	5-cylinder radial engine
Ounce	1920	2-cylinder boxer engine
Panther	1929	14-cylinder radial engine (2 stars)
Serval	1928	10-cylinder radial engine (2 stars)
tiger	1932	14-cylinder radial engine (2 stars)
Double mamba	1949	2 mambas connected to a gear
mamba	1946	Turboprop
python	1945	Turboprop
ASX	1943	Jet engine
Sapphire	1948	Jet engine
Adder	1948	Jet engine
viper	1951	Jet engine
Snarler		Rocket engine
Stentor		Rocket engine

Diesel engines

In 1946 Armstrong Siddeley made its first diesel engines. They were medium-speed runners for use in industry and agriculture. Initially there was a single cylinder engine producing 5 bhp (3.7 kW) at 900 rpm. as well as a two-cylinder version . Each cylinder of this engine had a displacement of 988 cc. The engine power and speed increased over time. At the end of 1954, the single-cylinder engine was already producing 11 bhp (8.2 kW) at 1800 rpm. and the twin cylinder 22 bhp (16.4 kW) at the same speed. In 1955 the model range was expanded with the introduction of a three-cylinder engine with 33 bhp (24.6 kW).

These engines were made in the Armstrong-Siddeley factory on Walnut Street, Leicester , until that factory closed in August 1957. Production was continued in the Armstrong Siddeley (Brockworth) Ltd factory in Gloucestershire and from 1958 in the Petters Ltd factory in Staines-upon-Thames . The engines built by Petters were named AS1, AS2 and AS3 to distinguish them from the other products of the company. Production finally ended in 1962 when Petters introduced a new line of high-speed, air-cooled diesel engines.

In April 1958, the company acquired a license to build high-speed diesel engines of the Maybach MD series. Hundreds of them were built by Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd after that company took over Armstrong Siddeley's operations in 1959.

Web links

Commons : Armstrong Siddeley Automobile  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• Documents and newspaper articles on Armstrong Siddeley in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ^ David Culshaw, Peter Horrobin: Catalog of British Cars 1895-1975 . Veloce Publishing, Dorchester 1997, ISBN 1-874105-93-6 , pp. 47-50.
2. ↑ Sid Beck: Armstrong Siddeley Air-Cooled Diesel Engines in Stationary Engine , April 1992. Re-published in Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust Sphinx newsletter , no. 49 (2001).
3. ^ Minutes of Board Meeting . Armstrong Siddeley Motors, October 1st, 1957.
4. ↑ Tom Smith: Armstrong Siddeley Air-Cooled Diesl Engines in Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust Sphinx newsletter , No. 54 (2004).
5. ^ Minutes of Board Meeting . Armstrong Siddeley Motors, April 2, 1958 and April 28, 1958.