60hp t21 d. napier & son limited was a british engineering company best known for its luxury motor cars in the edwardian era and for its aero engines throughout the early to mid 20th century . napier was founded as a precision engineering company in 1808 and for nearly a century produced machinery for the financial print and munitions industries . in the early 20th century it moved for a time into internal combustion engines and road vehicles before turning to aero engines . its powerful lion dominated the uk market in the 1920s and the world war two era sabre produced 3500 hp 2 600 kw in its later versions . many world speed records on land and water as well as the hawker typhoon and tempest fighter planes were powered by napier engines . during world war two the company was taken over by english electric and engine manufacture eventually ceased . today napier turbochargers is a subsidiary of the american company wabtec . contents 1 early years and precision engineering 2 montague napier and high performance vehicles 2.1 racing 2.2 motor yachting 3 public limited company and wwi 4 interwar period 5 second world war 6 post war 6.1 english electric 6.2 napier aero engines limited 6.3 napier turbochargers 7 see also 8 references 8.1 notes 8.2 bibliography 9 external links early years and precision engineering edit steam engine built by d. napier & son in 1859 1909 napier t23 roadster david napier second son of the blacksmith to the duke of argyll was born in 1785 . while cousins became shipbuilders he took engineering training in scotland before coming to london . there in 1808 he founded the firm that was to become d. napier & son in lloyds court st giles london . 1 he designed a steam powered printing press some of which went to hansard the printer and publisher of proceedings of the houses of parliament as well as newspapers . the company moved to lambeth south london in 1830 . between 1840 and 1860 napier was prosperous with a well outfitted factory and between 200 and 300 workers . napier made a wide variety of products including a centrifuge for sugar manufacturing lathes and drills ammunition making equipment for the royal arsenal woolwich and railway cranes . 2 david s younger son james murdoch born 1823 joined the firm in 1837 and became a partner in 1847 resulting in a change in the private company s name to d. napier & son . 1 james succeeding his father as head of the firm in 1867 and after his father s death in 1873 specialised in beautifully crafted precision machinery for making coins and printing stamps and banknotes . james proved an excellent engineer but a poor businessman considering salesmanship undignified . it became so bad that there were as few as seven employees in 1895 and james attempted to sell the business but failed . 2 3 montague napier and high performance vehicles edit james son montague born 1870 2 inherited the business in 1895 along with his father s engineering talents . 2 montague was a hobby racing cyclist and at the bath road club he met ebullient australian s. f. edge then a manager at dunlop rubber and colleague of h. j. lawson in london and amateur racer of motor tricycles . edge persuaded napier to improve his panhard old number 8 which had won the 1896 paris marseille paris converting from a tiller to a steering wheel and improving the oiling . 3 dissatisfied napier offered to fit an engine of his own design an 8 hp vertical twin with electric ignition superior to the panhard s hot tube type . 4 edge was sufficiently impressed to encourage napier to make his own car and collaborated with harvey du cros his former boss at dunlop to form the motor power company based in london 4 which agreed to buy napier s entire output . the first of an initial order of six three each two cylinder 8hp and four cylinder 16hp all with aluminium bodies by arthur mulliner of northampton and chain drive was delivered 31 march 1900 ; edge paid 400 and sold at 500 . in 1903 the manufacturing business moved from lambeth to larger premises in acton and in 1906 it became a limited liability company d. napier & son limited although it remained in effect a private company for the next few years . outside the racing program napier also gained fame in 1904 by being the first car to cross the canadian rockies mr and mrs charles glidden sponsors of the glidden tours covered 3 536 miles 5 691 km from boston to vancouver . 5 racing edit recognising the value of publicity gained from racing which no other british marque did 6 in spring edge entered an 8 hp 6 kw napier in the thousand miles 1 600 km trial of the automobile club on behalf of edward kennard ; driven by edge with kennard along on a circuit from newbury to edinburgh and back it won its class being one of only thirty five finishers of sixty four starters 7 and one of just twelve to average the requisite 12 mph 19 km h in england and 10 mph 16 km h in scotland . 8 by june 1900 eight 16 hp s had been ordered and edge entered one in the 837 mi 1 350 km paris toulouse paris race with rt. hon. charles s. rolls co founder of rolls royce as riding mechanic . the 301.6 cu in 4.94 l 101.6 152.4 mm 4x6 in sidevalve suffered problems with its ignition coils and cooling system and failed to finish . 9 for 1901 montague designed a car sure not to lack speed having a 16.3 liter 995.5 cu in 165.1 190.5 mm 6.5 7.5 in sidevalve four capable of 103 bhp 77 kw at 800 rpm on a wheelbase of 115 inches 2.921 m 10 with four speed gearbox and chain drive . called the 50 hp only two or three were completed including one for rolls . 10 edge entered one in the 1901 gordon bennett cup only able to test it en route it was completed 25 may only four days before the event montague serving as his riding mechanic ; it overpowered its dunlops and fitting new french tyres led to disqualification since they were not of the same nation of origin . 11 in the concurrent paris bordeaux rally it retired with clutch trouble . 12 for the 1902 gordon bennett three entrants the charron girardot voigt a mors and a panhard contested for france with edge in a napier and two wolseleys . the napier was a three speed shaft drive 6.44 litre 392.7 cu in four 127 127 mm 5x5 in of 44.5 hp 33 kw though described as a 30 hp . piloted by edge and his cousin cecil it wore what would become known as british racing green and won at an average 31.8 mph 51.2 km h ; although by default since all other entrants retired during the race . it was the first british victory in international motorsport and would not be repeated until henry segrave took the french grand prix in 1923 . 10 charles j. glidden on his world tour of 1902 napiers also inspired charles j. glidden to create the glidden tours in upstate new york which in turn persuaded napier to build a factory in boston . it along with the genoa factory managed by arthur mcdonald which built napiers under licence as san giorgios from 1906 9 was not a success . 13 annual production reached 250 cars in 1903 overwhelming the lambeth factory so a move was made to a new 3.75 acre 1.52 ha plant at acton in west london . on 16 october of that year napier announced a six cylinder car for 1904 and became the first manufacturer to make a commercially successful six a remarkably smooth and flexible vehicle 10 18 hp 301 cu in 4.9 liter 101.6 101.6 mm 4 4 in with a three speed gearbox and chain drive . 10 within five years there were 62 makers of six cylinder cars in britain alone including the ford motor company s 1906 model k. 14 1904 napier 6 cylinder race car napier s 1902 win brought the gordon bennett hosting duties to the united kingdom and the 1903 event was held south of dublin with three shaft driven napiers defending the british and irish honour all in the later famous racing green two 470 cubic inch 7708 cc 45 horsepower 33.5 kw fours for charles jarrott and j. w. stocks with mcdonald the genoa plant manager his riding mechanic and an 80 horsepower 838 cubic inch 13 726 cc the type k5 for edge . jarrott and stocks crashed and edge was disqualified . 15 it was a bad year for napier s racing program ; a 35 hp in the hands of colonel mark mayhew in the paris madrid rally lost its steering and hit a tree . edge again with mcdonald fared no better with the k5 in the 1904 gordon bennett in germany but a new 920 cubic inch 15 litre ; 158.7 127 mm 6.25 5 inch six the l48 with an external radiator reminiscent of the cord 810 set the fastest time at the velvet strand speed trials at portmarnock ireland in september piloted by mcdonald . 16 in january 1905 the l48 again with mcdonald in the seat took the mile 1.6 km record at ormonde beach at 104.65 mph 168.41 km h ; although this was shortly broken by bowden s mercedes the run was disallowed . the versatile mcdonald ran the l48 in the 1905 gordon bennett qualifying event at the isle of man taken over for the race by works driver clifford earp who placed ninth . edge s secretary dorothy levitt drove a 100 hp 74.6 kw development of the k5 at the blackpool and brighton speed trials in 1905 and the next year ran the l48 at the blackpool speed trials showing talent by equalling edge s speed and setting a women s record in the flying kilometre of 90.88 mph 146.25 km h . 10 by 1907 1200 people were employed by napier and were making about a hundred cars a year aided by continuing racing success . brooklands opened that year where napier engineer h. c. tryon won the first ever event in a 40 hp 30 kw and edge made a famous 24 hour run in june covering 1 581 miles 2 544 km at an average 65.905 mph 106.06 km h in a 60 horsepower 589 cubic inch 9 652 cc 127 127 mm 5 5 inch six a record which stood for 18 years . 17 the l48 nicknamed samson became famous there in the venue s first two years ; in 1908 napier s frank newton covered half a mile 800 m at 119.34 mph 190.05 km h in a stroked 178 mm 7 inch l48 . 15 the company s last race win was with a four cylinder at the 1908 tourist trophy using an alias hutton to preserve the reputation of the sixes in the hands of willy watson . 18 at the french grand prix officials showed the perverse reasoning for which they later became notorious by claiming that removable wire wheels were an unfair advantage . 19 when napier was no longer in racing its lion aeroengine was used by several land speed record contestants malcolm campbell s napier campbell blue bird of 1927 and campbell napier railton blue bird of 1931 segrave s golden arrow of 1929 and john cobb s napier railton and railton mobil special which held the record from 1939 64 . dorothy levitt driving the napier motor yacht 1903 napier racing motor