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Ja Prestwich Industries Ltd





HISTORY

JA Prestwich, an engineer, founded the company in 1895 , when he was in his early twenties. Prestwich came to be known as much for his creation of Cinematography projectors as his engines. He worked with S.Z. De Ferranti and later the cinema pioneer William Friese-Greene .

The engines were used in many famous bikes well into the 1960s .

After .


PRODUCTS


Aircraft engines

Early aircraft were light and basic, and need a reliable and lightweight engine to power them - JAP motorcycle engines were ideal. JA Prestwich at first would purely deliver the same engine to the aircraft manufacturer, allowing them to make local modifications - mainly larger venturi tubes for the carburettor, to allow for greater air intake at altitude http://www.auav.org/atwf/engines.htm But in the late 1920s/early 1930s JA Prestwich produced various heavier engines under license including those for the UK market for Aeronco .http://home.adelphia.net/~aeroengine/Aeronco.html


Cinema

Cinematographic equipment including Camera s, printers, Mutoscope s, cutting and perforating machines, and Projector s (eg the Bioscope projectors for the Warwick Trading Company and Charles Urban ) were produced by the company in the early part of the 20th Century .http://www.victorian-cinema.net/prestwich.htm


Motorcar engines


In light of JAP's development of high powered but light engines for speedway, some low volume pre-war car manufacturers, including the Morgan Motor Company and Reliant , used JAP engines to power their vehicles.http://morgan3w.de/engines/engine.htm

This use of the JAP extended into motor racing after the Second World War , with most were used in specialist UK lightweight formulas, or more extensively in Formula 3 racing after developments by John Cooper .http://www.forix.com/8w/gb55.html

In its later life, JA Prestwich also produced components for other vehicle manufacturers, including the cylinder head for the Lotus Cortina version of Ford 's popular car. http://www.pixelmatic.com.au/cortina/articles/lccltst.htm


Motorcycles

From 1904 to 1908 complete motorcycles were produced http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/compendium/J.htm from the development of the first Overhead Valve Motorcycle engine to be produced in the UK http://www.ingenious.org.uk/See/Transport/Roadtransport/?target=SeeMedium&ObjectID=%7B6BD58689-6C9E-DB75-9AC8-0D93DF6C9737%7D&viewby=images

After that the factory concentrated on supplying its proprietary engines to other manufacturers, including , the forerunner of Vincent Motorcycles http://www.myvincent.co.uk/hrd.php

Latterly, JAP engines (under Villiers control) were used in motorcycle racing, and most commonly Speedway or dirt track http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-pa-HTTP%253A%252F%252FLIBAPP.SL.NSW.GOV.AU%252FCGI-BIN%252FSPYDUS%252FENQ%252FPM%252FFULL1%253F8407%252CI


REFERENCES



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