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55-493: The Lanchester Fourteen Roadrider is a six-cylinder automobile introduced by the Lanchester Motor Company in the beginning of September 1936. It was named "Roadrider" for its special suspension features, and billed as the lowest-priced six-cylinder Lanchester ever offered. This car replaced the previous 12 hp ( tax horsepower ) Light Six model with a larger six-cylinder (14 hp tax horsepower ) engine again in

110-400: A secondary imbalance . This is caused by the acceleration/deceleration of the pistons during the top half of the crankshaft rotation being greater than that of the pistons in the bottom half of the crankshaft rotation (because the connecting rods are not infinitely long). As a result, two pistons are always accelerating faster in one direction, while the other two are accelerating more slowly in

165-471: A 2470 cc, four-cylinder, water-cooled, overhead-valve engines featuring pressure lubrication, very unusual at the time, and were now mounted with the epicyclic gearbox between the front seats rather than centrally, resulting in a design with the driver sitting well forwards and without a bonnet. Six-cylinder models joined the line-up in 1906. The specification started to become more conventional with wheel steering as an option from 1908, becoming standard from

220-409: A body department was set up, until 1914 most cars had Lanchester built bodies. In 1904, despite a full order book, the business ran out of money and The Lanchester Engine Company Limited was put into voluntary liquidation. After a period of management by a receiver the business was re-organised re-capitalized and incorporated as The Lanchester Motor Company Limited later that year. The 1904 models had

275-461: A car, not a horseless carriage , and it ran on the public roads in February or March 1896. It had a single-cylinder 1306 cc engine with the piston having two connecting rods to separate crankshafts and flywheels rotating in opposite directions giving very smooth running. A two-cylinder engine was fitted to the same chassis in 1897 and a second complete car was built alongside it. This led on to

330-451: A cylinder on its power stroke, unlike engines with fewer cylinders where there is no power stroke occurring at certain times. Compared with a V4 engine or a flat-four engine , a straight-four engine only has one cylinder head , which reduces complexity and production cost. Petrol straight-four engines used in modern production cars typically have a displacement of 1.3–2.5 L (79–153 cu in), but larger engines have been used in

385-600: A displacement of 1.5–2.5 L (92–153 cu in). The smallest automotive straight-four engine was used in the 1963–1967 Honda T360 kei truck and has a displacement of 356 cc (21.7 cu in), while the largest mass-produced straight-four car engine is the 1999–2019 Mitsubishi 4M41 diesel engine which was used in the Mitsubishi Pajero and has a displacement of 3.2 L (195 cu in). Significant straight-four car engines include: Many early racing cars used straight-four engines, however

440-572: A four-speed conventional gearbox and four-wheel brakes. It grew to the 3.3-litre Twenty Three in 1926. The Forty was finally replaced by the Thirty with straight-eight 4.4-litre engine in 1928. A further series of armoured cars was made in 1927, using a six-wheeled version of the Forty chassis. For 1928 there was George's last design, a 4446 cc straight-8; only 126 were made before the economic depression effectively killed demand. Twelve months after

495-424: A new pistol-grip handbrake lever on the dash. Lanchester estimated the fuel consumption to be 22 mpg. Maximum speed 70 mph. either car might be had with four-speed synchromesh gearbox and friction clutch for £350 The new Lanchester Fourteen was displayed to the press on 9 October 1950, the day before the public announcement. The only familiar feature was the fluid flywheel and pre-selective gearbox. It

550-495: A repeat customer during the 1920s and 1930s, preferred this less showy version of a Daimler car and took delivery of a pair of specially built Daimler straight-eight limousines with the Lanchester grille and badges. Post war, a ten-horsepower car was reintroduced with the 1287 cc LD10 which didn't have a Daimler equivalent and the four-cylinder 1950 Fourteen / Leda . The very last model, of which only prototypes were produced,

605-546: A sale to BSA made sense. Thomas Hamilton Barnsley (1867–1930), the principal shareholder, chairman and managing director negotiated a sale of all share capital to BSA group shortly before his death on Christmas Day 1930. BSA's purchase of all of the shares was completed in January 1931 for £26,000, a fraction of the value of the assets. Car production was transferred to Lanchester's new sister subsidiary, Daimler , at Motor Mills, Sandy Lane, Radford, Coventry . George Lanchester

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660-463: A single model policy and the Forty was re-introduced with a 6.2-litre overhead-cam engine in unit with a 3-speed gearbox still using epicyclic gears and a worm drive rear axle. It was very expensive, dearer than a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost and to maintain production a smaller car, the Twenty One joined the range in 1924. This had a 3.1-litre, six-cylinder engine, with removable cylinder head, mated to

715-469: A straight-four engine is installed at an inclined angle (instead of with the cylinders oriented vertically), it is sometimes called a slant-four . Between 2005 and 2008, the proportion of new vehicles sold in the United States with four-cylinder engines rose from 30% to 47%. By the 2020 model year, the share for light-duty vehicles had risen to 59%. A four-stroke straight-four engine always has

770-586: A subsidiary holding company for them. In 2013, Jaguar Cars was merged with Land Rover to form Jaguar Land Rover Limited, and the rights to the Lanchester car brand were transferred to the newly formed British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover . This business was begun by the three Lanchester brothers, Frederick , one of the most influential automobile engineers of the 19th and 20th centuries, George and Frank who together incorporated The Lanchester Engine Company Limited in December 1899 retaining

825-401: A time when regulations dictated a maximum displacement of 550 cc; the maximum size is currently at 660 cc. Straight-four engines with the preferred crankshaft configuration have perfect primary balance . This is because the pistons are moving in pairs, and one pair of pistons is always moving up at the same time as the other pair is moving down. However, straight-four engines have

880-622: A torsional stabilising bar. At the rear there were half-elliptic springs. Girling hydraulic shock absorbers and Girling hydro-mechanical brakes were fitted. Disc type bolt-on wheels were fitted with 6.7" x 15" low pressure cushion tyres. The post-war Fourteen had an entirely new coachbuilt body. When supplied for export with the lighter all-steel body, the car was known as the Lanchester Leda . Standard coachbuilt 4-door six-light body £895 Images otherwise unavailable Lanchester Motor Company The Lanchester Motor Company Limited

935-517: Is particularly beneficial in the higher rpm range, and " big-bang firing order " theory says the irregular delivery of torque to the rear tire makes sliding in the corners at racing speeds easier to control. Inline-four engines are also used in MotoGP by the Suzuki (since 2015 ) and Yamaha (since 2002 ) teams. In 2010 , when the four-stroke Moto2 class was introduced, the engines for the class were

990-470: The Maserati 4CL and various English Racing Automobiles (ERA) models. These were resurrected after the war, and formed the foundation of what was later to become Formula One , although the straight-eight supercharged Alfettas would dominate the early years of F1. Another engine that played an important role in racing history is the straight-four Ferrari engine designed by Aurelio Lampredi . This engine

1045-533: The 1920s and early 1930s. The Miller engine evolved into the Offenhauser engine which had a highly successful spanning from the 1933 until 1981, including five straight victories at the Indianapolis 500 from 1971 to 1976. Many cars produced for the pre-WWII voiturette Grand Prix motor racing category used inline-four engine designs. 1.5 L supercharged engines found their way into cars such as

1100-441: The 1970s. Since then, the inline-four has become one of the most common engine configurations in street bikes. Outside of the cruiser category, the inline-four is the most common configuration because of its relatively high performance-to-cost ratio. All major Japanese motorcycle manufacturers offer motorcycles with inline-four engines, as do MV Agusta and BMW . BMW's earlier inline-four motorcycles were mounted horizontally along

1155-469: The 2.4 litre Citroën DS engine, the 2.6 litre Austin-Healey 100 engine, the 3.3 L Ford Model A (1927) engine and the 2.5 L GM Iron Duke engine . Soviet/Russian GAZ Volga and UAZ engines with displacements of up to 2.9 litres were produced without balance shafts from the 1950s to the 1990s, however these were relatively low-revving engines which reduces the need for a balance shaft system. Most modern straight-four engines used in cars have

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1210-479: The Lanchester Eleven chassis and body. The four-light four-door sports saloon was given a new "razor edge" body. The entirely new Roadrider shape, introduced within twelve months, was similar in appearance. The Fourteen was continued after World War II, with a coachbuilt body for the home market and, under the Lanchester Leda name for the export market, with a lighter all-steel body. These followed

1265-515: The Peugeot engine which won the 1913 Indianapolis 500 was a highly influential engine. Designed by Ernest Henry , this engine had double overhead camshafts (DOHC) with four valves per cylinder, a layout that would become the standard until today for racing inline-four engines. Amongst the engines inspired by the Peugeot design was the Miller engine , which was a successful racing engine through

1320-594: The United States, Nimbus in Denmark, Windhoff in Germany, and Wilkinson in the United Kingdom. The first across-the-frame 4-cylinder motorcycle was the 1939 racer Gilera 500 Rondine , it also had double-over-head camshafts, forced-inducting supercharger and was liquid-cooled . Modern inline-four motorcycle engines first became popular with Honda 's SOHC CB750 introduced in 1969, and others followed in

1375-613: The Wall Street Crash these were the cars shown by Lanchester on their stand at the Olympia Motor Show in October 1930: The engines were 3,330 and 4,440 cc respectively, with a wheelbase and track of: Within weeks, their bank called in the company's overdraft of £38,000 forcing immediate liquidation of the company's assets. Because their current premises were next door to BSA 's Armourer Mills at Sparkbrook

1430-584: The automatic lubrication every time the car was started and warmed up. Aside from the front suspension, the new chassis differed little from its pre-war version. The engine was new, a 1968 cc four replacing the 1809 cc six . details in addition to tabled data The engine was flexibly mounted to isolate torque reactions. It was fitted with a statically and dynamically balanced three bearing crankshaft; big ends fitted with steel-backed white-metal liners; three bearing camshaft with steel-backed white-metal liners; air silencer; and automatic advance and vacuum control of

1485-490: The bottom. A new Lanchester Roadrider "breaking fresh and important ground" was announced at the beginning of October 1937. Engine, chassis, and body were all different, and larger and independent front suspension was now provided. An optional manual synchromesh gearbox with an ordinary clutch was also available at reduced price. This car was a simpler, less luxurious version of the Daimler New Fifteen, sharing

1540-511: The customary Lanchester practice and the transmission included the Daimler fluid flywheel and the self-changing pre-selective four-speed gearbox. Final drive was by underslung worm gear. Magna type wire wheels and fully chromium-plated bumpers were standard. There was a new range of coachwork. Upholstery was provided in a new style either in all leather or a combination of leather and cloth. The windscreen had remote-motor dual wipers operating from

1595-443: The distributor with over-riding hand adjustment for varying grades of fuel. The usual Daimler transmission with fluid flywheel and pre-selective 4-speed epicyclic gearbox was provided. Hardy Spicer open propeller shaft with needle roller universal joint and hypoid bevel rear axle linked the engine and rear wheels. The frame was of box section and cruciform braced. Suspension was independent in front using laminated torsion bars with

1650-411: The end of 1911, pedals and a gear lever replaced the original two-lever system of gear changing. George Lanchester was now in charge, Frederick having resigned in 1913. The engine was moved further forward to a conventional position in the sporting Forty, with a side-valve, 5.5-litre six-cylinder engine, but very few were made before the outbreak of World War I. A distinctive feature of the engine's valves

1705-439: The final drive was now by spiral bevel. A pin roller-bearing propeller-shaft led to a half-floating spiral bevel driven back axle. Independent front wheel springing was provided in the form of parallel links with coil springs, radius arms and torsion bar damping. The rear half-elliptical springs also were given a torsion bar stabilizer and hydraulic shock absorbers. They were rubber-mounted to minimise vibration. The exhaust system

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1760-459: The financial support they had previously received from the two brothers, Charles Vernon Pugh and John Pugh of Rudge-Whitworth . Others who took directorships included the Whitfield brothers, J. S. Taylor and Hamilton Barnsley – a master builder who sold the business to BSA-Daimler in 1931. Work on the first Lanchester car had been started in 1895, significantly designed from first principles as

1815-429: The first production cars in 1900, when six were made as demonstrators. These had two-cylinder, 4033 cc, horizontal air-cooled engines, retaining the twin crankshaft design. Steering was by side lever (or tiller ) not wheel. The gearbox used epicyclic gearing . The first cars were sold to the public in 1901. In 1902 Lanchester became the first company to market disc brakes to the public. They were mechanical and on

1870-471: The frame, but all current four-cylinder BMW motorcycles have transverse engines . The modern Triumph company has offered inline-four-powered motorcycles, though they were discontinued in favour of triples . The 2009 Yamaha R1 has an inline-four engine that does not fire at even intervals of 180°. Instead, it uses a crossplane crankshaft that prevents the pistons from simultaneously reaching top dead centre. This results in better secondary balance , which

1925-406: The front wheels only. The discs were very thin and made of a very soft metal like brass. Although probably leaving much to be desired, they completely fit the definition of a disc brake, and beat all others to market by many years. The Lanchester Motor-Car Company show a number of handsome vehicles. The design here is novel throughout, or, rather, it differs from other designs, as the Lanchester car

1980-567: The large 2,495 cc FPF that won the Formula One championship in Cooper 's chassis in 1959 and 1960. In Formula One, the 1980s were dominated by the 1,500 cc turbocharged cars. The BMW M12/13 engine was notable for the era for its high boost pressures and performance. The cast iron block was based on a standard road car block and powered the F1 cars of Brabham, Arrows and Benetton and won

2035-416: The nearside the vertically driven make-and-break and distributor is placed centrally and has a neat easily detachable cover over the top which also hides the sparking plugs and wiring. Here also are the water tap, the coil, pressure oil filter, dip rod, sump drain plug, starter and mechanical fuel pump" Power was transmitted to the rear wheels with the usual Daimler fluid flywheel and self-changing gearbox but

2090-420: The other direction, which leads to a secondary dynamic imbalance that causes an up-and-down vibration at twice crankshaft speed. This imbalance is common among all piston engines, but the effect is particularly strong on four-stroke inline-four because of the two pistons always moving together. The strength of this imbalance is determined by the reciprocating mass, the ratio of connecting rod length to stroke, and

2145-756: The past, for example the 1927–1931 Bentley 4½ Litre . Diesel engines have been produced in larger displacements, such as a 3.2 L turbocharged Mitsubishi engine (used the Pajero/Shogun/Montero SUV) and a 3.0 L Toyota engine. European and Asian trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating between 7.5 and 18 tonnes typically use inline four-cylinder diesel engines with displacements around 5 litres. Larger displacements are found in locomotive, marine and stationary engines. Displacement can also be very small, as found in kei cars sold in Japan. Several of these engines had four cylinders at

2200-405: The peak piston velocity. Therefore, small displacement engines with light pistons show little effect, and racing engines use long connecting rods. However, the effect grows quadratically with engine speed (rpm). Four-stroke engines with five or more cylinders are able to have at least one cylinder performing its power stroke at any given point in time. However, four-cylinder engines have gaps in

2255-399: The power delivery, since each cylinder completes its power stroke before the next piston starts a new power stroke. This pulsating delivery of power results in more vibrations than engines with more than four cylinders. A balance shaft system is sometimes used to reduce the vibrations created by a straight-four engine, most often in engines with larger displacements. The balance shaft system

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2310-431: The site where Lanchester built their first four-wheel petrol car in 1895. Inline-four engine The majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the exceptions of the flat-four engines produced by Subaru and Porsche) and the layout is also very common in motorcycles and other machinery. Therefore the term "four-cylinder engine" is usually synonymous with straight-four engines. When

2365-407: The sweeping lines of the body, gave a big car appearance. "Easy clean" wheels were fitted, the front seats were adjustable, and the steering wheel column was telescopic. A luggage boot was added at the back with a separate lockable compartment for a spare wheel. Other additions were footrests for the back passengers, an electric cigarette lighter, a sunshine roof, double screen wipers, sun visors, and

2420-413: The two standard bodies but using a smaller engine. details in addition to tabled data The crankshaft ran in four bearings The engine unit had bi-axial four-point rubber mountings. "On the offside are the horizontal carburettor, the manifolds held by brass nuts, the air-cooled dynamo with a belt drive common to the combined fan and impeller and the steering box which has worm and double roller gear. On

2475-484: The world championship in 1983. The 1986 version of the engine was said to produce about 1,300 hp (969 kW) in qualifying trim. Belgian arms manufacturer FN Herstal , which had been making motorcycles since 1901, began producing the first motorcycles with inline-fours in 1905. The FN Four had its engine mounted upright with the crankshaft longitudinal . Other manufacturers that used this layout included Pierce , Henderson , Ace , Cleveland , and Indian in

2530-524: Was a British car manufacturer in active trade between 1899 and 1955. Though the Lanchester Motor Company Limited is still registered as an active company and accounts are filed each year, the marque has been dormant since. As of 2014 it is marked as "non-trading". The Lanchester company was located until early 1931 at Armourer Mills, Montgomery Street, Sparkbrook , Birmingham , and afterwards at Sandy Lane, Coventry England. It

2585-405: Was also insulated. Wheelbase and track had been extended by 7.5 in (191 mm) and 4 in (102 mm) respectively, providing more body space and inter-axle seating. Steering was now by worm and double roller. Tyres 5.75 x 16 inches. Bendix mechanical brakes were on all four wheels. The radiator case was carried well forward of the front axle which lengthened the bonnet and, with

2640-686: Was called the Sprite. Daimler was in decline, and in 1960 BSA sold Daimler's premises and business to Jaguar Cars who have since used the Daimler name on their most expensive products. Jaguar has moved into and out of the Ford group and since 2008 Jaguar, Lanchester belongs to Tata Motors . An open-air sculpture, the Lanchester Car Monument , in the Bloomsbury Heartlands area of Birmingham , designed by Tim Tolkien , on

2695-437: Was invented in 1911 and consists of two shafts carrying identical eccentric weights that rotate in opposite directions at twice the crankshaft's speed. This system was patented by Mitsubishi Motors in the 1970s and has since been used under licence by several other companies. Not all large displacement straight-four engines have used balance shafts, however. Examples of relatively large engines without balance shafts include

2750-706: Was kept on as a senior designer and Frank became the Lanchester sales director. The first new offering, still designed by George Lanchester, was a version of the Daimler Light Twenty, the Lanchester Eighteen with hydraulic brakes and a Daimler fluid flywheel . The Ten of 1933 was an upmarket version of the BSA Ten. The pre-war Fourteen Roadrider of 1937, was almost identical to the Daimler New Fifteen . The then Duke of York ,

2805-512: Was one of the first English cars to be made. The engine is horizontal and is balanced in a most ingenious manner, the change speed gear is by epicyclic trains controlled by band brakes, the electric sparking is most ingeniously contrived, and the suspension is also of special type. To describe the mechanism of these cars would, however, be impossible without elaborate diagrams. They are notable for their easy running and absence of vibration. All bodies were made by external coachbuilders until 1903 when

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2860-570: Was originally designed as a 2 L Formula 2 engine for the Ferrari 500, but evolved to 2.5 L to compete in Formula One in the Ferrari 625. For sports car racing, capacity was increased up to 3.4 L for the Ferrari 860 Monza. The Coventry Climax straight-four engine was also a very successful racing engine, which began life as a 1.5 litre Formula 2 engine. Enlarged to 2.0 litres for Formula One in 1958, it evolved into

2915-483: Was planned that, when the factory space destroyed in the Coventry raids was completed, the coachbuilt body would be replaced with an all-steel body which would reduce the car's weight, enable a price reduction, and permit shipment in a form suitable for assembly overseas. The Times regarded the new car's only features of technical interest to be the laminated leaves (usually bars) of the front suspension's springing and

2970-481: Was purchased by the BSA Group at the end of 1930, after which its cars were made by Daimler on Daimler's Coventry sites. So, with Daimler, Lanchester became part of Jaguar Cars in 1960. In 1990 Ford Motor Company bought Jaguar Cars and it remained in their ownership, and from 2000 accompanied by Land Rover , until they sold both Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors in 2008, who created Jaguar Land Rover as

3025-663: Was their use of leaf springs, rather than coil springs. Frank Lanchester ran the London sales office. During World War I the company made artillery shells and some aircraft engines but some vehicle production continued with the Lanchester armoured cars built on the Lanchester 38 hp chassis for use by the Royal Naval Air Service on the Western Front . After the first World war the company adopted

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