Adams was an English automobile manufactured in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

, England, between 1905 and 1914. Arthur Henry Adams had founded the Igranic Works in Bedford in 1899 to make electrical equipment. American-born Edward R. Hewitt had helped

Sir Hiram Maxim Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (5 February 1840 – 24 November 1916) was an American-British inventor best known as the creator of the first automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. Maxim held patents on numerous mechanical devices such as hair-curli ...

to build a large steam plane in 1894. He later designed a "gas buggy" along the lines of an

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produ ...

and following agreement with Adams production of the car started in 1905 as the Adams-Hewitt. The Adams-Hewitt had a supposedly foolproof two, later three, speed-epicyclic transmission with a 1724 cc 10 hp single-cylinder engine located horizontally in the middle of the chassis driving the rear wheels by chain. Indeed, "Pedals to push, that's all" was used as the marque's slogan. Hewitt eventually returned to the United States to manufacture similar cars under his own name and his name was dropped from the British produced cars. AdamsMailPhaetonFront

In 1906 a range of more conventional cars was introduced with shaft-drive and vertical engines and from 1907 sliding mesh gearboxes. One of these was supplied to the Emperor of Abyssinia. Models offered included two- and four-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

ones and one of the first British V-8s; this last had a 7270 cc 35/40 hp engine based on the French Antoinette model (an aero engine for which Adams were agents). The V-8 seems to have been plagued by

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting ...

breakages. The last single-cylinder cars were made in 1909. In 1910, the company produced an advanced 16 hp four-cylinder model with front-wheel brakes; it came with compressed-air starting, tire-inflating, and jacking equipment. The "pedals-to-push" gear was still offered, as was a conventional four-speed transmission and an unusual planetary gearchange (three-speed), which was operated by a pedal that moved in a gate. The company stopped making cars in 1914, and the factory became Brookhirst-Igranic which eventually became part of

Metal Industries, Limited Metal Industries, Limited was a conglomerate of mostly British engineering companies. It was founded in Glasgow in 1922 by Robert Watson McCrone. In 1953 its activities were described as "electrical and mechanical engineering manufacture and metal ...

. A. H. Adams was lost on the Lusitania in 1915.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams (Automobile) Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Cars introduced in 1905 Brass Era vehicles Companies based in Bedfordshire Bedford Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1905 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1914 1905 establishments in England 1914 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1914 British companies established in 1905

See also

References