Adams Manufacturing Co
The Adams Manufacturing Co was an English automobile manufacturer in Bedford between 1905 and 1914.
American-born Edward Ringwood Hewitt had helped Hiram Maxim to build a large steam plane in 1894. He later designed a "gas buggy" along the lines of an Oldsmobile; this machine was built by the Adams Manufacturing Company. The Adams had a supposedly foolproof epicyclic transmission with a 10 hp single-cylinder engine.
Hewitt returned to the United States to manufacture similar cars under his own name, after which more conventional shaft-driven cars with vertical engines were produced (beginning in 1906) as Adams. Models offered included two- and four-cylinder ones and one of the first British V-8s; this last had a 35/40 hp engine based on the French Antoinette model (an aero engine for which Adams were agents). But the V-8 was plagued by crankshaft breakages.
1905 Managing Director is Arthur Henry Adams.[1]
1906 Produced a single-cylinder 9-10 h.p. car with single chain-drive branded as Adams-Hewitt. [2]
1906 April. Details of the sixteen-cylinder petrol engine.[3]
1906 May. Details of the Adams-Hewitt 10-hp car.[4][5]
1906 June. Details of their car.[6][7][8]
1907 October. Details of the 10-hp car.[9]
1908 November. Details of the 14-16-hp car shown at Olympia.[10]
1909 March. Description and images of the 14-16hp model.[11]
1909 November. details of the 16-hp car.[12]
In 1910, the company produced an advanced 16 hp 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 gear change (three-speed), which was operated by a pedal that moved in a gate.
1910 November. Details of the three-speed planetary gear.[13]
1911 May. Details of the 16-20hp car.[14]
1911 Electrical Exhibition. Motor starting switches and dimmers of stage lighting. [15]
1912 October. Details of the only model; 16-20hp.[16]
1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices see the 1917 Red Book. Indicates Lester and Folwell may be involved.
1913 October. Details of the 10hp single-cylinder light car.[17]
1914 The company folded.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Luton Times and Advertiser - Friday 13 October 1905
- ↑ The Automobile Vol. III. Edited by Paul N. Hasluck and published by Cassell in 1906.
- ↑ The Autocar 1906/04/28
- ↑ The Autocar 1906/05/26
- ↑ The Autocar 1906/06/02
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1906/06/30
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1906/07/07
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1906/07/14
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1907/10/26
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1908/11/21
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1909/03/27 p355
- ↑ The Autocar 1909/11/13
- ↑ The Autocar 1910/11/26
- ↑ The Autocar 1911/06/03
- ↑ The Engineer 1911/09/29 p328
- ↑ The Autocar 1912/10/26
- ↑ The Autocar 1913/10/25