Coventry Simplex Engines
Simplex Engine Co of East Street, Coventry
of Payne's Lane, Coventry (1910)
Maker of engines
1903 The company was started in 1903 as Lee, Stroyer and Co
1905 Following the departure of Stroyer, the partnership was dissolved and the business was relocated to Paynes Lane, Coventry; it was renamed Coventry-Simplex by Henry Pelham Lee who saw a need for competition in the piston engine market.
1907 'Coventry Simplex Engines Company has just been registered with a capital of £3,000 in £1 shares to take over the business of engineers and motor manufacturers carried on at East Street Works, Coventry, as the 'Simplex Engine Company," and to adopt an agreement with H. P. Lee. The subscribers are: S. Gilfillan, T. E. Collcutt, R. W. A. Gilfillan, S. W. Lee, R. N. Stroyer, E. B. Boughton, E. F. Peirson, and H. P. Lee.'[1]
An early user was GWK, who produced over 1,000 light cars with Coventry-Simplex two-cylinder engines between 1911 and 1915. Just before World War I a Coventry-Simplex engine was used by Lionel Martin to power the first Aston Martin car. Ernest Shackleton selected Coventry-Simplex to power the tractors that were to be used in his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914.
1910 October. Details of the engine design.[2]
WWI Hundreds of Coventry-Simplex engines were manufactured during World War I to be used in generating sets for searchlights.
1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices of Paraffin Commercial and Agricultural Motors, Tractors, Ploughs, Sprayers, etc. see the 1917 Red Book
1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices of Marine Motors see the 1917 Red Book
1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices of Petrol Motor Commercial Vehicles see the 1917 Red Book
1917 H. Pelham Lee founded a company which later became Coventry Climax Engines[3]
1920 H. Pelham Lee acquired the business Coventry Climax Engines[4]
1921 Company wound up. G. H. Wardle was Chairman.[5]