Weller Brothers

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ac Weller Brothers (" Gebrüder Weller "), from 1902 under the company Weller Brothers Limited , was one of the first English automobile and motorcycle production companies at the beginning of the 20th century (spelling sometimes also with the abbreviation from Brothers to Bros. and Limited to Ltd. ). The company was based in West Norwood , now a southern part of London .

A De Dion Bouton motorcycle (manufactured around 1900) - such two-wheelers, were serviced and repaired in the workshop of the Weller Brothers in West Norwood until 1904 and were a model for the production of our own engines and vehicles

The sale of own vehicles is documented from March 1901 and ended in 1904/1905 with the dissolution of the company. The two main shareholders were the engineer John Weller and the businessman John Portwine. In 1904, they continued their joint work in a new company under the name Autocars and Accessories Limited ( A. and A. ) with the construction of small tricycle - Transporter car carrier continued. From this emerged in 1907 the well-known car brand AC , which is still in existence today and is best known for the AC Cobra from the 1960s, developed together with Carroll Shelby and Ford .

history

Such vehicles were also typically found in the workshop of the Weller Brothers - here a Peugeot tricycle (manufactured around 1900) with a De Dion Bouton built-in engine, a single front wheel and two driven rear wheels ...
... as well as in the reverse configuration with two front wheels and individually driven rear wheel - here a De Dion-Bouton Tricar from 1899 ...
... or as a four-wheel version - here a De Dion-Bouton Quadricycle (around 1900).

John Weller (born November 28, 1877, † August 31, 1966) was the third oldest of seven brothers or nine siblings. At a young age he proved to be an innovative, creative engineer, tinkerer and inventor, but initially had to earn a living doing odd jobs as a traveling mechanic. In 1899, at the age of 21, he teamed up with his brother Harry and founded Weller Brothers, Engineers as a small car and motorcycle repair shop in West Norwood. Shortly afterwards, two other brothers took up work in the workshop and became co-partners.

The four Weller brothers initially worked primarily as engine technicians and repairers for the first, relatively wear-prone and maintenance-intensive vehicles and motorcycles. Import vehicles from the French manufacturer De Dion-Bouton and those from other French or English brands with built-in engines from this manufacturer formed the focus of activity for the Weller Brothers in the early phase . Such vehicles with De Dion Bouton engines were particularly widespread at that time. With a production of around 400 vehicles and around 3200 engines, De Dion-Bouton was the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world in 1900. The Weller brothers quickly became a factory-recognized De Dion Bouton specialist workshop; In 1902, the automobile club, which was later renamed the British Royal Automobile Club (RAC) and is roughly comparable to the General German Automobile Club (ADAC) , named the company one of its official repair companies.

At the same time, the Weller Brothers began in 1901 to build vehicles based on their own designs, initially with unchanged or only slightly modified built-in engines from De Dion-Bouton and other manufacturers. From March 8, 1901, the Weller Bros., Engineers published a first advertisement in “Kelly's, Post Office and Harrod & Co. Directory” ( “Kelly's Directory” for short ), a business directory comparable to the Yellow Pages . It offered “self-propelled cars” from our own production with different body variants, especially for commercial purposes.

In April 1901, the first preparatory work began for a sophisticated, progressive luxury- class vehicle , the Weller Four Seat Tourer , an open four-seat touring car with numerous innovations. Support, especially financial, John Weller and his brothers received from the successful businessman John Portwine (* 1866 or '67; † May 21, 1958). He ran a chain of butchers in London and the surrounding area with several brothers with at least eight branches at the time and was fascinated by the rapidly developing automotive technology.

From 1902 the company Weller Brothers also produced its own motorcycles under the brand name Weller with self-designed and self-built 1.75 hp and 2.25 hp motors (about 150 cm³ and 200 cm³ displacement ) and bicycle-like frames.

In the same year, Portwine made additional working capital available to the Weller brothers when the costs associated with expanding Weller's activities could no longer be covered by current income and reserves. The previous partnership was converted into a limited company, i.e. a non-listed, limited liability company under British law; In addition to the four Weller brothers, Portwine became a partner and managing director. A little later, Portwine took over all of the company's shares at a price of £ 1,700, paid the Weller brothers out in accordance with their previous shares and made further working capital available to expand the joint company activities.

In addition to ongoing business operations, John Weller continued to work on the Four Seat Tourer with self-designed and self-built four-stroke in - line engines with either two or four cylinders .

In early 1903, the company hired the technician and automobile pioneer Felix W. Hudlass (* 1874; † 1966) as an additional mechanic. From 1896 to 1902 he had manufactured his own automobiles under the name Phoenix Motor Works , some with two-cylinder engines, in Southport in Lancashire .

The Weller Brothers Limited had a big appearance at the first British International Motor Show . This took place from January 30th to February 7th, 1903 in the Crystal Palace in the Sydenham district in south London, just a few kilometers from the Weller workshop in West Norwood. She presented on stands 189 and 190

  • a Weller Four Seat Tourer in the 20 hp four-cylinder version as well
  • a Weller Four Seat Tourer in the 10 hp two-cylinder version (both as prototypes that are not yet ready to drive),
  • four Weller 1.75 hp Motor Bicycle ,
  • four Weller 2.25 hp Motor Bicycle ,
  • a Weller Motor Bicycle with a new type of fastening of saddle and footrests as well as a spring-loaded handlebar,
  • a Weller 5 hp single cylinder engine with a specified power of 8 brake horsepower (“brake horsepower” / bhp),
  • individual components of the engines offered by the company and
  • a new type of elastic universal connector developed by John Weller (Weller used one of these in the Four Seat Tourer as a connection between the clutch and the manual transmission to prevent engine vibrations from being transmitted to the transmission and from there to the chassis , the body and the passengers).

Due to the good reviews at the fair, the company completed a tourer in the 20 hp four-cylinder version ; this was presented to the press in June 1903 and rated extremely positively. Wellers and Portwine's search for additional donors for series production was ultimately unsuccessful. So was Charles Rolls indeed quite impressed, however, has preferred to be in May 1904, the conservative automobile pioneer Henry Royce unite to the car brand Rolls-Royce to be justified. Although the Four Seat Tourer turned out to be technically well thought out, it would have been very expensive in series production. The financier John Portwine was far-sighted enough, despite his enthusiasm for the project and the money he had already invested, not to risk his entire fortune for an economically questionable series production of the Weller Four Seat Tourer . The large 20 hp touring car therefore remained a one-off.

The company Weller Brothers Ltd. was responsible for building the elaborate, representative automobile and attempting to market it . financially and temporally very heavily burdened; Portwine therefore decided to voluntarily liquidate this company in 1904. Operation was taken over by Douglas S. Cox & Co. , also based in West Norwood , which had previously briefly manufactured its own automobiles from 1903 to 1904 as well as light motorcycles under the Emerald brand . The last motorcycles with the brand name Weller were made in 1905.

Products

Vehicles like this De Dion-Bouton Type J from 1902 may have been the basis for the Weller Brothers' first own automobiles in the years 1901 to 1903
More contemporary, similar in style and concept to the Weller Tourer but smaller in size, De Dion-Bouton 8CV from 1903
Royce 10 or Rolls-Royce 10 hp - the model that the businessman Charles Rolls helped to series production in 1904 instead of the Weller Four Seat Tourer

Automobiles

Car models 1901–1903

No detailed information is available about the first Weller automobiles from 1901 to 1903. The information available come substantially to the first advertisement of the Weller Brothers from Kelly's Directory of 8 March 1901, in which it says:

Original, English:

Manufacturers of Self Propelled Cars, Tricycles, Delivery Vans,
Lorries, Trademen's Carriers etc., either Petrol or Steam
Driven. Particulars and Prices upon application.
Official Repairers of De Dion et Bouton Machines. Spares
and Parts kept in stock.
Petrol supplied. Cars Repaired and Stored.
Accumulators Charged.
COACHBUILDING DEPARTMENT

German translation:

Manufacturer of self-propelled passenger cars, tricycles, delivery vans,
trucks, vans etc., either gasoline or steam
powered. Details and prices on request.
Official repair shop for De Dion Bouton motor vehicles. Spare
parts and individual parts in stock.
To hand in petrol. Repairs and storage of passenger cars.
Charging starter batteries.
BODY DEPARTMENT

The history of the origins of the manufacturer and the comparison with similar automobile pioneers suggests that the Weller brothers made the bodies individually according to the individual needs of the customers and that the equipment was also made as desired; it is likely to have mainly concerned better equipped passenger cars and simple vehicles for commercial use. When it came to the motorization, petrol and steam-powered built-in engines (mainly from De Dion-Bouton ) were likely to have been used in unchanged or modified form, as well as the associated technical components such as clutch and gearbox. In the further course the self-developed 5-hp single-cylinder engine may have been used as an alternative. It is not known whether the Weller Brothers were already using their own chassis at that time or whether they only took over or modified those from outside companies.

At the British International Motor Show in 1903, Weller Brothers Limited only offered the in-house single-cylinder engine from the original Weller range of automobiles. As far as is known, no Weller vehicles from this period have survived. The low response in contemporary literature suggests that the production figures are likely to have been in the double-digit range.

The “Weller Four Seat Tourer” one-off

The Weller Four Seat Tourer (also Weller 10hp Touring Car or Weller 20hp Touring Car or simply Weller Car , link to the picture :), was an open four-seat touring car of the upper class, which was launched at the British International in early 1903 in the form of two not yet drivable prototypes Motor Show was presented. The vehicle had a self-designed and self-built four-stroke in-line engine with either two or four cylinders and a displacement of around 2.0 or 4.0 liters. It aimed at the market that the Rolls-Royce brand, created shortly afterwards, served from 1904.

The completed vehicle was presented in the 20 hp four-cylinder version in the June 6, 1903 issue of The Autocar magazine and was extensively praised with the following tenor:

"We foresee a brilliant future for the Weller car and its talented designer."

“We foresee a bright future for the Weller car and its talented designer.”

After no additional investor for series production could be found, Weller and Portwine gave up the plans for series production of the Four Seat Tourer ; it stayed with the one completed four-cylinder tourer.

Motorcycles (1902–1905)

The company Weller Brothers and Weller Brothers Limited manufactured their own motorcycles under the “ Weller ” brand from 1902 to 1905.

The two-wheelers offered from 1902 were conceptually advanced motorized bicycles (link to the picture :). They had a bicycle-like frame in the diamond frame style, as it was naturalized for bicycles from around 1885 ("men's bike"). The self-designed and self-built motors with 1.75 and 2.25 hp were mounted upright on the right side of the down tube in front of the front chainring . On the left side of the frame, a drive belt connected the engine and rear wheel. If necessary (especially on a mountain, with an empty tank or an engine defect), the driver could support or replace the engine by pedal drive, for which a chain ran as usual on the right side of the frame to the rear wheel. A striking feature was a large, slim container that - hung on the top tube - hung in the frame triangle and contained the fuel tank and the ignition devices.

The construction of the 150 and 200 cm³ engines was unusual: the cylinder housing and cooling fins were not cast in one piece. Rather, the cooling fins consisted of individual metal disks that were simply pushed over the cylinder from above and held in place by the long stud bolts with which the cylinder head was screwed to the cylinder housing. All controls were mounted on the handlebar. As one of the first light motorcycles, the Weller Motor Bicycle had a modern twistgrip instead of a simple lever, based on a design that Gottlieb Daimler first used in 1885 and that was further developed by various inventors shortly after the turn of the century. The rear wheel brake was an inner-shoe drum brake operated mechanically by means of cams , as Louis Renault first presented it in 1902 in automobile construction. From 1903, the Weller Motor Bike was one of the first light motorcycles to have a sprung front fork and rear suspension integrated into the seat and chain stays, a design developed and patented by John Weller .

In order to convince potential buyers of the reliability, ease of use and comfort of their motorcycle, the company offered them a test drive of 50 miles (about 80 kilometers). Due to the individual production by hand and the cost of the advanced technology, the Weller motorcycles - even if the exact prices are not recorded - were relatively expensive, which limited their distribution. The last two-wheelers with the brand name Weller were created after the dissolution of the "Limited Company" until 1905 from remaining material stocks or to fulfill the last sales contracts.

Further development

After series production of the Weller Four Seat Tourer had turned out to be too expensive, Portwine convinced John Weller to design a smaller, technically simpler and thus more cost-effective vehicle for commercial purposes, for which he saw better marketing opportunities. In 1904, Autocars & Accessories Limited ( A & A ), a company owned by Portwine and Weller and initially based in Long Acre, London, created the Auto-Carrier three-wheeler transporter . This subsequently developed into a great sales success and paved the way for the AC Cars car brand .

At the same time, in the first few years John Weller tried to establish a second mainstay as a partner and engineer in Hitchon Gear & Automobile Company Ltd. based in Accrington , Lancashire. From 1904 to 1907 it produced two car models under the brand name Globe , which were also known as Hitchon-Weller : on the one hand a vehicle with a 9 hp single-cylinder engine designed by Alfred Hitchon, and on the other a model with a four-cylinder engine from White & Poppe . Both models had a Hitchon - freewheel and a per worm shaft driven rear axle. The latter design feature was adopted by John Weller for later AC models, where it was used until the late 1920s. However, only around twelve vehicles were produced from both Globe models, so Weller decided to concentrate exclusively on the joint car carrier project with Portwine.

Both worked in their joint company until the resale of their respective company shares in 1922, which in 1907 became Autocarriers Ltd. renamed, moved to Thames Ditton in Surrey in 1911 and later to the famous sports car manufacturer AC Cars Ltd. has been. Under her leadership, in addition to the Auto-Carrier tricycle presented in 1904, the two or three-seater AC Sociable based on it , from 1913 the light, four- wheel AC 10 hp with Fivet four-cylinder engine (also called AC Fivet ) and from 1919 the AC 12 were built hp with four cylinder engine from the British Anzani Motor Company . Furthermore, during the First World War , Weller developed the pioneering 2.0-liter in-line six-cylinder engine with a light alloy block and overhead camshaft , which in the following years contributed significantly to the rise of AC to a manufacturer of exclusive sporty utility cars and which was built with constant further developments until 1963.

Harry Weller and his two other brothers who were involved in the Weller Brothers company did not appear in any significant way after 1904. On the other hand, the youngest brother John Wellers, Septimus Beresford Weller (* 1892; † 1974), seventh of the nine siblings and also an engineer, inventor and holder of several patents, later came into contact with the AC brand founded by John Weller and John Portwine : During the During the Second World War , the otherwise freelance SB Weller was entrusted as an engineer with armaments contracts in the Ferry Works halls of AC , in particular the manufacture of landing gear components for British bomber planes.

After the company was dissolved in 1904, Felix W. Hudlass joined the London-based Royal Automobile Club (RAC) as chief engineer . He held this position for over forty years until his retirement in October 1947. For his services during the First World War, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE, fourth level of the British Order of the British Empire ). Another former Weller employee named Bower (* 1881; † 1933) also switched to the RAC before he took on managerial positions at various companies or worked temporarily as a freelance engine engineer.

literature

to the Weller automobiles

  • John McLellan: Classic ACs . Sutton Publishing Ltd., Stroud, Gloucestershire 2000, ISBN 978-0-7509-2042-1 (English, especially pp. 1 and 2 (with picture)).
  • GN Georgano, Thorkil Ry Andersen: The new encyclopedia of motorcars, 1885 to the present . Dutton, New York 1982, ISBN 0-525-93254-2 (English, keywords: AC and Globe ).
  • Nick Baldwin, GN Georgano, Michael Sedgwick, and Brian Laban: The World Guide to Automobile Manufacturers . Facts on File, New York 1987, ISBN 0-8160-1844-8 (English, p. 10, keyword: AC ).
  • St. John, C. Nixon: The antique automobile . Cassell & Co., London 1956 (English, ISBN not available, p. 100 (text) and between 172 and 173 (image)).
  • Trevor Legate: Cobra: The First 40 Years . MBI Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA 2006, ISBN 978-0-7603-2423-3 , pp. 14 (English).
  • NN in: "Autocar" (magazine), The Weller Twenty Horsepower Car , issue June 6, 1903 (English)

to the Weller motorcycles

  • Roy Bacon and Ken Hallworth: The British Motorcycle Directory - Over 1,100 Marques from 1888 . The Crowood Press, Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire (GB) 2004, ISBN 1-86126-674-X (English).
  • Peter Henshaw: The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle . Chartwell Books, Edison, New Jersey, USA 2007, ISBN 978-1-84013-967-9 (English).

Web links

References and comments

  1. ^ A b Advertisement from Weller Bros., Engineers in: Kelly's, Post Office and Harrod & Co. Directory (short: Kelly's Directory ), 1901 (a business directory, comparable to the Yellow Pages ), printed in: Trevor Legate: Cobra: The First 40 Years , MBI Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA 2006, ISBN 978-0-7603-2423-3 , p. 14; an original from Kelly's Directory , dated March 8, 1901, is archived in the British Museum in London
  2. ↑ detailed press article in the English daily newspaper Telegraph from March 13, 2001 on the occasion of the 100th AC company anniversary (English)
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j John McLellan: Classic ACs , Sutton Publishing Ltd., Stroud, Gloucestershire 2000, ISBN 978-0-7509-2042-1 , especially pages 1 and 2 (English)
  4. ↑ a b c Trevor Legate: Cobra: The First 40 Years , MBI Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA 2006, ISBN 978-0-7603-2423-3 , esp. P. 14 (English)
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Reproduction of the AC press release on the 100th anniversary with a short Weller company history  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.carpictures.com  
  6. ↑ a b c d e f AC company history on the website of AC Autokraft , an AC successor company (English)
  7. ↑ Note: The hp information was probably based on an early abstract performance formula, since suitable dynamometers were not yet available.
  8. ↑ a b c d Roy Bacon and Ken Hallworth in: The British Motorcycle Directory - Over 1,100 Marques from 1888 . The Crowood Press, Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire (GB) 2004, ISBN 1-86126-674-X .
  9. ↑ a b c d Peter Henshaw in: The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle . Chartwell Books, Edison, New Jersey, USA 2007, ISBN 978-1-84013-967-9 .
  10. ↑ a b c d Weller company history on the website of Grace's Guide (English)
  11. ↑ a b c Felix W. Hudlass in: "Motor sport" (magazine), July 1962, p. 528 (letter to the editor from the former Weller employee Hudlass - English)
  12. ^ Stanley Spooner (ed.), The Auto: the motorist's pictorial , 1909, Volume 14, Page 998 (English)
  13. ↑ a b Exhibition catalog for the first British International Motor Show 1903 (English)
  14. ↑ a b N.N. in: "The Autocar" (magazine), issue of June 6, 1903 (English)
  15. ^ GN Georgano, Thorkil Ry Andersen, The New encyclopedia of motorcars, 1885 to the present . Dutton, New York 1982, ISBN 0-525-93254-2 , 1982, p. 688, keyword: Emerald (English)
  16. ↑ a b c Erwin Tragatsch, The world's motorcycles, 1894–1963: a record of 70 years of motorcycle… , 1964, p. 184 (English)
  17. ↑ Brief description of the Weller Four Seat Tourer with picture on the AC Heritage website ( Memento from August 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  18. ↑ Image of the Weller Motor Bicycle on the website of Grace's Guide (English)
  19. ↑ a b Company history of the car brand Globe on the website of British Motor Manufacturers  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.britishmm.co.uk  
  20. ↑ Company history of the car brand Hudlass / Phoenix Motor Works on the British Motor Manufacturers website  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.britishmm.co.uk  
  21. ^ NN in: Institution of Automobile Engineers, Proceedings of the session… , 28th edition, 1933, page XXXIV (English)