Stewart Tresilian (9 January 1904 – 20 May 1962) was a British mechanical engineer, who played a significant role in the early development of British aero engines during World War II.

Early life

He gained a BA degree in Engineering from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Career

Rolls-Royce

In the 1920s he worked at Rolls-Royce on aero-engines. In the early 1930s he worked as the chief assistant to

Arthur Rowledge Arthur John Rowledge, (30 July 1876 – 11 December 1957) was an English engineer who designed the Napier Lion aero engine and was a key figure in the development of the Rolls-Royce Merlin. Career Rowledge was born in Peterborough, Northampto ...

at Rolls-Royce on the R engine.

Templewood Engineering

For around a year, from 1938 to 1939, he worked as an independent consultant under the name 'Templewood Engineering', an owned subsidiary of High Duty Alloys Ltd. Wallace C. Devereux set up this offshoot company in order to market their

Hiduminium The Hiduminium alloys or R.R. alloys are a series of high-strength, high-temperature aluminium alloys, developed for aircraft use by Rolls-Royce ("RR") before World War II. They were manufactured and later developed by High Duty Alloys Ltd. T ...

range of high-performance

aluminium alloy An aluminium alloy (or aluminum alloy; see spelling differences) is an alloy in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin, nickel and zinc. There are two principal ...

s to the motor-racing industry. One of Tresilian's innovations was to encourage the use of these alloys as

extrusion Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex c ...

s, as well as the previous forgings.

Armstrong Siddeley

In 1939 he became the Chief Engineer of

Armstrong Siddeley Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury vehicles and aircraft engines. The company was created following ...

, based north of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

(now Rolls-Royce Ansty).

British Racing Motors

Tresilian designed an oversquare twin-cam 2.5-litre four-cylinder for the

BRM P25 The BRM P25 was a Formula One racing car raced from 1956 to 1960 and the second car produced by the British Racing Motors consortium. After the failure of the complex BRM V16, the P25's design emphasized simplicity. The car was fitted with a 2.5- ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

car. Tresilian subsequently designed the

BRM P48 The BRM P48 was a Formula One racing car raced in 1960 Formula One season, 1960. It was BRM's first rear-engined car. With rear-engined cars in the ascendancy, BRM hastily reworked the front-engined, now five-year-old BRM P25, P25. The car proved t ...

, BRM's first rear-engined Formula One car.

References

External links

Biography at grandprix.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tresilian, Stewart 1904 births 1962 deaths Armstrong Siddeley British mechanical engineers Rolls-Royce people Alumni of the University of Cambridge