Petters Limited (known as JB Petter & Sons of Yeovil until 1910), were a maker of
stationary petrol and diesel engines from 1896 onwards.
[Petter, Percival. ''The Story of Petters Limited'' (Westbury: David Edgington, 1989)] In 1915 Petter founded Westland Aircraft Works (renamed "
Westland Aircraft
Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. Du ...
" in 1935). In 1986 Petters Limited merged with one-time rival
R A Lister and Company
R A Lister & Company was founded in Dursley, Gloucestershire, England, in 1867 by Sir Robert Ashton Lister (1845–1929), to produce agricultural machinery.
History 1867–1906: Foundation and growth
The founder of R A Lister and Company w ...
to form
Lister Petter
Lister Petter is a British company that manufactures internal combustion engines for industry, a subsidiary of Teignmouth, England based Sleeman and Hawken.
History
The company was formed in 1986, after owner Hawker Siddeley Group Plc merged Du ...
.
History
Car
James Bazeley Petter, an agricultural engineer and iron founder, had premises in the Borough,
Yeovil
Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somer ...
.
[Lukins, A. H. ''The Book of Westland Aircraft'' (Leicester: Harborough, 1944), p. 5] It was there that
Ernest
Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include:
People
*Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman ...
and Percival, his twin sons, designed and built a self-propelled oil engine in 1892.
[http://www.southsomersetmuseums.gov.uk/monographs/monograph01.htm] Three years later they designed the first
internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...
d
motor car
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
to be made in the United Kingdom. The car, using a converted four-wheel horse-drawn
phaeton and a 3 hp (2 kW) twin-cylinder horizontal
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
engine, had a top speed of .
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
6 km/his 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.''
[''The Engineer'', 3 April 1896]
The twins continued to develop vehicles, the twelfth of which they entered to a competition at
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
in 1897, without success.
Engines
Percival Petter, who in 1893 took over as manager of the Yeovil Foundry and Engineering Works, together with B. J. Baker, in 1894 designed and built first the Yeovil Engine, a high-speed steam engine. The following year he designed and built a small 2.5 hp oil engine for agricultural use that was immediately successful and the enterprise expanded, with Jacobs becoming chief engineer - a position he held until his death in 1936 - such that by 1904 over a thousand Petter oil engines were sold, ranging in capacity from 1 hp to 30 hp.
In parallel with these efforts in 1902 Petter and Jacobs created the first agricultural
tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...
, powered by a 30 hp
oil engine.
By 1908 sales had increased principally against very large orders from Russia where two-stroke engines were preferred.
In 1911 the company, whose machines now ranged from 70 hp to 300 hp, won the Gran Prix at the Milan International Exhibition, and production hovered around 1,500 per annum.
;Petter Standard and Handyman
Petter Standard oil engines were horizontal
open crank engines made to very high standards, which was put into production underway under the same year but around 1903 cheap American imports arrived disrupting the British market, including the newly created J. B. Petter Company Limited. Highly competitive US-manufactured engines like those manufactured by the
Fairbanks Morse Company "Jack of all Trades" threatened the nascent British industry but unlike most British engine manufacturers Petter reacted by creating a new low-cost engine, the Petter Handyman. Costing approximately 80% of the Petter Standard and available only in batches of 50 or more units for more economic production, the young company's market position was preserved for the next two decades, enabling Petters to produce both
two-stroke
A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being comple ...
and
four-stroke
A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...
engines from 1920.
;A and M types
Petters models as the M-type and the A-type were highly successful and were competitors for
Lister's D-Type.
;SS type
The last two-stroke design was the "SS" introduced in 1938, available in two- to six-cylinder versions delivering 125 hp-375 hp. The SS designation stood for "superscavenge", the design employing the
Kadenacy principle to charge the cylinders. The exhaust gases left the cylinder at sufficiently high speed to create a partial vacuum, drawing air into the cylinder like a supercharger, while improved airflow cooled the valves and scavenging, this 'inertial' supercharging being supplemented by a blower.
Running at low temperatures due to a patented oil-cooled piston, and featuring a spherical small end bearing, they were used in
British Rail 15107
British Rail 15107 was a 0-6-0 diesel-electric shunter locomotive commissioned by the Great Western Railway from its Swindon Works, but delivered to British Railways after nationalisation. It had a Petter 4-cylinder engine. Its shed allocation ...
and
British Rail Class D3/14
British Rail Class D3/14 was a diesel-electric locomotive built by the London and North Eastern Railway at its Doncaster Works. It had a Petter engine, and Brush Traction electricals. It was absorbed by British Railways on nationalisation, b ...
locomotives.
;Specification of Petter SS engines
Bore 8.5 inch (216 mm)
Stroke 13.0 inch (330 mm)
Speed 500 revolutions per minute
Piston speed 1,082 feet per minute
;Power output
In the railway locomotives, the SS4 was uprated to 360 BHP.
Some Petter manuals are available for download at
Internal Fire – Museum of Power
The Internal Fire Museum of Power is a museum of internal combustion engines in West Wales. The museum's collection is mostly of larger stationary diesel engines, as used for generating sets and pumping stations. The museum is located at Tan-y-gr ...
.
;Various
Petter models included the two-stroke M-type (petrol), the S-type (stationary diesel) and the A- and A1 (air-cooled) - the only noticeable difference between the last two being the position of the magneto (in the type A it protrudes; in the type A1 it is tucked away below), and an economy 'handyman' version of the M-type, and a comprehensive range of air-cooled diesels that included the PAZ1, AVA range, and the 3.5 hp AA1.
Re-organization
![2020 at Yeovil Bus Depot - Petter's plaque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/2020_at_Yeovil_Bus_Depot_-_Petter%27s_plaque.JPG)
In 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, Yeovil.
Its workforce of 500 men produced 1500 engines a year.
Vickers-Petters
Petters was renamed Vickers-Petters Ltd after it bought the former Vickers factory in Ipswich in 1920 but that part of the business was renamed Petters (Ipswich) in 1927. The Ipswich factory was closed by mid 1929 and the Ipswich works and land sold.
Petters joined the
Associated British Oil Engine Company
The Associated British Oil Engine Company (ABOE) was a British engineering company. It started life as a combine, similar to Agricultural & General Engineers. Petters Limited joined ABOE in 1937. J&H McLaren & Co. was sold to ABOE in 1943, alt ...
in 1937.
[http://www.farmcollector.com/company-history/petter-engine.aspx Farm Collector – December 2001 – The History of the Petter Engine] After the war the group was obtained by British Electrical Group, with Petter spun off in 1949 joining another engine manufacturer,
J&H McLaren & Co., at the old
Lagonda
Lagonda is a British luxury car brand established in 1906, which has been owned by Aston Martin since 1947. The trade-name has not had a continuous commercial existence, being dormant several times, most recently from 1995 to 2008 and 2010 to 2 ...
works in
Egham Hythe
Egham Hythe, Pooley Green and Thorpe Lea are adjacent settlements in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. They are separated from the town of Egham by the M25 and from Staines upon Thames by the Ri ...
near
Staines, Middlesex
Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred to ...
, employing over 1,000 people at its peak. In 1957 the company was acquired by
Hawker Siddeley
Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of onl ...
and some production was moved to
Hamble Hamble may refer to:
* The River Hamble in Hampshire, England
* Hamble aerodrome on the banks of the River Hamble.
** Hamble-Warsash Ferry, a ferry service on the River Hamble
* Hamble-le-Rice, a village on the river Hamble, close to the city of Sou ...
as the reorganized company was split into four groups within Hawker Siddeley Brush Group—Petter Staines (small engines), Petter Generator Divisions, Petter Marine Division, Petter Service Division and Thermo-King Division (building refrigeration units under license from the US firm Thermo-King). In 1984 Petter was merged with Lister to form
Lister Petter
Lister Petter is a British company that manufactures internal combustion engines for industry, a subsidiary of Teignmouth, England based Sleeman and Hawken.
History
The company was formed in 1986, after owner Hawker Siddeley Group Plc merged Du ...
Co. Ltd. The Staines site was sold in 1988 and all production was concentrated at the former Lister factory in
Dursley
Dursley is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in southern Gloucestershire, England, almost equidistant from the cities of Bristol and Gloucester. It is under the northeast flank of Stinchcombe#Stinchcombe Hill, Stinchco ...
, Gloucestershire.
Calculators
In the 1930s the company manufactured mechanical
calculator
An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.
The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-sized ...
s. 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
The Bell Punch Company was a British company manufacturing a variety of business machines, most notably several generations of public transport ticket machines and the world's first desktop electronic calculator, the Sumlock ANITA calculator, Su ...
company.
Petteroid
"''Petteroid''" is a nickname given to engines built under licence in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
to Petter design. While rural contraptions in work used for casual heavy transport in Indian
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
are known as "''
Peter Rehra
Peter rehra, ਪੀਟਰ ਰੇਹੜਾ is a homemade jugaad vehicle used in rural Punjab and other North Indian states. It is made by assembling a diesel engine,(mostly meant for pumping water), removing the pumpset assembly from it, and join ...
s''" after the brand of engine that gained popularity there in days gone by.
References
Further reading
* ''Some men who made Barnstaple...'' by Pauline Brain published 2010 by Roundabout Devon Books {{ISBN, 978-0-9565972-0-5
* ''Stationary and Marine Oil Engines'' (Yeovil: Petters, 1932)
External links
Farm Collector – The History of the Petter EngineSt Paul's, Egham Hythe(see history page)
Diesel engine manufacturers
Engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom
Companies based in Yeovil
History of Somerset
Manufacturing companies established in 1896
1896 establishments in England
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1986
1986 disestablishments in England
Vickers