Cyril Pullin (18 August 1892 – 23 April 1973) was a British

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

, engineer and motorcycle race driver. His inventions contributed to the rotary engine and the helicopter. His son was the pilot for the first successful British helicopter flight in 1938. Cyril Pullin died in 1973 aged 80.

Early life

Cyril George Pullin was born 1892 in Wandsworth, London. He became a well known motorcycle racer and in 1914 won the Isle of Man TT race.

Racing career

In 1914 Cyril Pullin won the Isle of Man TT with a record average of 49.49 mph on a Rudge Multi which had a variable belt drive gearbox giving an effective option of over 20 speeds which made a huge difference on the hills. The race, which ran for over four hours was led by Oliver Godfrey (riding an Indian) and Howard R Davies (on a

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunl ...

) who dead heated for second place when Pullin overtook them both to win by only 6.4 seconds. Pullin's success on the day was sadly marred when fellow competitor in the Junior TT Frank Walker came round the final corner on his

Royal Enfield Royal Enfield was a brand name under which The Enfield Cycle Company Limited of Redditch, Worcestershire sold motorcycles, bicycles, lawnmowers and stationary engines which they had manufactured. Enfield Cycle Company also used the brand name "E ...

to find the road blocked by people trying to see the finish. He did his best to avoid injuring spectators but was killed in the crash. Following the tragedy the organisers of the TT introduced rope barriers and crowd control. On 23 March 1922 at Brooklands Pullin established a new record and became the first ever British motorcyclist to be timed at over 100 m.p.h. on a 3 hp Douglas 500cc motorcycle.

Inventions

In the 1920s Pullin developed various helicopter engine patents and in the 1940s he developed the ''Powerwheel'', a rotary engine in the hub of a motorcycle wheel, a rotating single-cylinder engine known as a ''one-lunger''. This consisted of just the cylinder and a clutch which could be engaged and disengaged, with a simple drum brake. The invention never entered production but is credited as an important step in rotary engine development. His sister was married to Stephen Leslie Bailey, a then prominent engineer at Douglas Motorcycles and many of his patents were filed under the name of that company.

Car and motorcycle business

In 1928 Pullin took over the former ''Phoenix'' factory in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, to produce Ascot-Pullin Motorcycles and the Ascot car based on the Hungarian Fejes, with chassis and 10 hp engine assembled from welded steel pressings. It never went into production. A larger car, the Ascot Gold Cup Six with a 2423 cc six-cylinder engine possibly made by Continental, three-speed gearbox and servo brakes did become a reality and a few production cars were made. It was advertised as being available as a two-seat sports, coupé or fabric saloon.

Rotary wing aircraft

In 1932 Pullin joined G & J Weir Ltd's aircraft department, in Glasgow, Scotland, as chief designer to develop single-place autogyros. Pullin and his team designed a series of Autogiros before moving on to a small helicopter using two rotors mounted atop outriggers each side of the fuselage. The Weir W.5 was a single-seat helicopter powered by an air-cooled engine, and established a maximum airspeed of 70 mph. Its two two-blade, fixed-pitch rotors had swashplate-actuated cyclic control. The W.5 made its first flight at Dalrymple,

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

, on 7 June 1938, when it was piloted by Raymond Pullin and it became the first British helicopter to fly successfully. By World War II the W.5 had logged eighty hours' flying time and was followed by a scaled-up version, the W.6, which was the first two-seater helicopter in the world, powered by a much more powerful DH Gipsy aero engine. Further progress on this model was prevented by World War II. Pullin designed the 1500 cc "Flat Twin" and the "4-Cylinder"(later called Pixie when licensed to Aero Engines Ltd of Bristol) engines which followed it. These were used in the Weir W2, W3 and W4 autogiros. The "Four Cylinder" was adapted to power the twin-rotor W5 Helicopter. After the war development at the

Cierva Autogiro Company The Cierva Autogiro Company was a British firm established in 1926 to develop the autogyro. The company was set up to further the designs of Juan de la Cierva, a Spanish engineer and pilot, with the financial backing of James George Weir, a Scotti ...

of the W.9 "Drainpipe" and the 24-passenger-carrying W.11 Air Horse helicopters continued under the direction of Cyril Pullin. A fatal crash of the W11 Air Horse, due to a small component fatigue failure, put an end to this very promising heavy-lift helicopter project. The remnants of the Cierva Autogiro Company were taken over by Saunders Roe, who continued the development of the small Skeeter helicopter and put it into production.

References

Sources

Douglas Light Aero Engines from Kingswood to Cathcart. 2010. Author Brian Thorby. Redcliffe Press, Bristol

External links

1914 picture of 21-year-old Cyril Pullin on his winning motorcycle
It was an earlier model which he had designed. This site is about the TT race, and tells the story of the race and the motorcycle design

This site about old Douglas motorcycle parts digs into old engine and motor patents, specifically following various stages of Cyril Pullin's work and inventions
Image of Pullin riding motorcycle in 1923

TT database rider profile

TT database TT results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pullin, Cyril 1890s births 1973 deaths British motorcycle pioneers People from Wandsworth British automobile designers English motorcycle racers Isle of Man TT riders Aircraft designers English aerospace engineers