Petters

1913.

1913.

1913.

1916. Ref AA below

1946.

Petters Limited of Nautilus Works, Yeovil (known as J. B. Petter and Sons of Yeovil until 1910), were makers of stationary petrol and diesel engines from 1896 onwards.

• 1865 James Bazeley Petter received the ironmongery firm Harman and Gillett in Yeovil as a wedding present from his father. He later acquired the Yeovil Foundry and Engineering Works. Had premises in the Borough, Yeovil. It was there that two of his children, the twins Ernest and Percival, designed and built a self propelled oil engine in 1892.

• 1895 Percival became manager of the foundry. He developed an interest in the horseless carriage.

• 1895 They designed the first internal combustion engined motor car to be made in the United Kingdom. The car, using a converted four-wheel horse-drawn phaeton and a 3 hp (2 kW) horizontal oil engine, had a top speed of 12 miles per hour (19 km/h). The vehicle was constructed at the Park Road carriage works of Hill and Boll. It weighed 9 cwt (457 kg) including the 120 lb (55 kg) of the Petter engine with its flywheel and side bars. A contemporary report said: The carriage is intended for two persons, with which a speed of ten miles an hour is obtained on level road. It will mount the hills of the neighbourhood with two persons, but larger power would be used for four persons … The exhaust is, we are informed, quite invisible, and the engine almost noiseless'. The removable handle (indicated in the plan drawing) was used to start the engine in the first place, and an arrangement is made so that the handle, when put in position, automatically opens the exhaust valve which closes instantly when, a good impulse being given, the handle is withdrawn and the engine starts … Tube ignition is adopted, and a small heating lamp is used … The engine starts in ten minutes and runs, we are told, without attention. The larger road wheels of the vehicle were 42 in (1.07 m.) in diameter.

• 1897 The twins continued to develop vehicles, the twelfth of which they entered to a competition at Crystal Palace in 1897, without success. Sometime used the name of Yeovil Motor Carriage Co. Failing to achieve the commercial success that they hoped, they adapted the engines for agricultural and industrial use.

• 1899 Petter Patent Oil Engine (1.25 h.p.) exhibited at the Royal Show.

• 1900 June. Royal Agricultural Show at York. Showed various small engines.

• 1901 Ernest Petter and Percival Petter purchased the business from their father. Reorganized as James B. Petter and Sons Ltd; Ernest and Percy (Percival) were joint managing directors. Range of engines expanded - 1.25 h.p. to 22 h.p.

• 1902 They produced the first agricultural tractor, powered by a 30 horsepower (22 kW) horizontal oil engine.

• The first engines made by Petter were Petter Standard oil engines which were horizontal open crank engines made to very high standards.

• Around 1903 cheap American imports, including the "Jack of all Trades" manufactured by the Fairbanks Morse Company, threatened the English stationary engine industry, and unlike most companies at the time Petter decided to produce a cheaper engine of their own to combat the threat. This engine was called the Petter Handyman which was sold around 20% lower in price than the 'Petter Standard' in batches of 50 or more.

• 1910 Registered as a public company.

• 1911 Smithfield Club Show. Spring-mounted oil traction engine for hauling loads from 8 to 10 tons. Engine is 30 bhp.

• 1912 the company went public and began engine production in a new factory named the Nautilus Works (after the fire grates that had made James Petter's fortune) in Reckleford. Its workforce of 500 men produced 1500 engines a year.

• 1913 Existing foundry unable to meet the demand. New site obtained at West Hendford (west of Yeovil). Garden village established for the employees which became known as Westland.

• 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 Motors see the 1917 Red Book

• In 1915 the chairman, W.R. Moore, resigned as a result of deep religious convictions that did not allow him to become involved in the manufacture of war munitions. In his place, Ernest Petter became chairman. The board decided to put its manufacturing resources at the disposal of government. Petters was asked to build aeroplanes. Westland Aircraft Works (renamed "Westland Aircraft" in 1935) was founded as a subsidiary.

• WW1: Percy was managing director of Petters; production of engines, shell cases and gun carriage equipment.

• At the 1920 Darlington Royal Agricultural Show they exhibited two-stroke engines from 2.5 to 8 hp of a simple design. These were petrol-paraffin types. They also showed 13.5, 35 and 54 bhp oil engines.

• 1921 Formed Vickers-Petters Ltd in conjunction with Vickers Ltd, who had purchased a facility at Ipswich during WW1 and equipped it for engine manufacture. Manufactured oil engines up to 500h.p. Advertisement

• 1922 'A freehold works at Yeovil' advertised for sale by Petters

• 1922 Annual meeting told about poor financial position. The aircraft works had sufficient work in hand to justify retaining this business

• 1922 Supplier of electricity generators and lighting systems.

• 1925 Annual meeting told that engines business was profitable - a small profit from each of a large number of transactions; the aircraft business suffered from gaps between orders when there was no revenue; Vickers-Petters with its larger engines continued to make losses due to industrial depression.

• 1925 'M' type oil engine. (Exhibit at Birmingham Thinktank museum). By 1930s more than 50,000 'M' type engines had been sold.

• 1926 Vickers sold their interest in Vickers-Petters

• 1927 Vickers-Petters renamed Petters (Ipswich) Ltd.

• 1928 Petters (Ipswich) closed at end of year; manufacture of larger engines transferred to Yeovil.

• In the 1930s the company manufactured mechanical calculators. The company obtained a patent on calculator technology in 1923 and two more in 1930. Guy Bazeley Petter then took out equivalent US patents and assigned the rights to the company. The company subsequently sold its calculator designs to the Bell Punch company.

• 1935? Westland Aircraft separated as a business.

• 1938 Development of "Superscavenge" diesel engine in sizes 125 to 375 h.p. Acquired 90% of shares of Liverpool Refrigeration and Engineering Co Exchanged one director each with the board of Mirrlees, Bickerton and Day Ltd to achieve benefit for both companies. Three directors joined the board of Brush Electrical Engineering Co; the managing director, Mr Keep, has freed some time to give attention to Brush Engineering business .

• 1938 Brush Electrical Engineering Co acquired the oil-engine business based at Yeovil in exchange for shares in Brush; Brush Electrical Engineering Co acquired the right to form a new company Petters Ltd, to preserve the name and goodwill. The land and buildings at Yeovil sold to Westland Aircraft Ltd. The greater part of the shares in the Westland business were sold to John Brown and Co with an option on the remainder. Petters became a holding company with most of its income derived from its shares in Brush and its other investments.

• 1939 Name changed to Associated British Engineering Ltd. Essentially a holding company with aim of consolidating the oil-engine industry .

• 1939 Private company.

• After the second world war, Petters took over the old Lagonda works in Egham Hythe near Staines, Middlesex, employing over 1000 people at its peak.

• 1961 Manufacturers of air and water-cooled industrial and marine diesel enfines in a range of 1.5 to 108 bhp and air-cooled industrial petrol or vaporising oil engines of 1.5 to 10 bhp. 1,500 employees.

• In 1986 Petters Limited merged with one-time rivals companies R. A. Lister and Co to form Lister Petter.

Sources of Information

• [1] Wikipedia
• The Engineer of 16th July 1920
• The Engineer of 22nd June 1900 p650
• The Engineer of 8th December 1911 p593
• 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
• AA. [2] Image courtesy of Aviation Ancestry