D. Napier & Son: Британдық инженерлік компанияның тарихы

British engineering company

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 Second World War era Sabre produced 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 the Second World War the company was taken over by English Electric, and engine manufacture eventually ceased. Today, Napier Turbochargers is a subsidiary of the American company Wabtec.

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. 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. David's younger son James Murdoch Napier, 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.

Recognizing the value of publicity gained from racing, which no other British marque did, in spring, Edge entered an Napier in the Thousand Miles (1,600 km) Trial of the Automobile Club on behalf of Mary Eliza 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) and one of just twelve to average the requisite in England and in Scotland. By June 1900, eight "16 hp"s had been ordered, and Edge entered one in the 837 mile (1347 km) Paris Toulouse Paris race, with Charles S. Rolls (co founder of Rolls Royce) as riding mechanic. The sidevalve suffered problems with its ignition coils and cooling system, and failed to finish. For 1901, Montague designed a car sure not to lack speed, having a sidevalve four capable of at 800 rpm, on a wheelbase of with four speed gearbox and chain drive. Called the "50 hp", only two or three were completed, including one for Rolls. In the concurrent Paris Bordeaux rally, it retired with clutch trouble. 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 ( of (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 ; 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. Annual production reached 250 cars in 1903, overwhelming the Lambeth factory, so a move was made to a new 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

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) 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. It was a bad year for Napier's racing programme; 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. In January 1905, the L48, again with McDonald in the seat, took the mile (1.6 km) record at Ormonde Beach at ; 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 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 The L48, nicknamed Samson, became famous there in the venue's first two years; in 1908, Napier's Frank Newton covered at in a stroked (178 mm, 7 inch) L48. 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. Later in August Levitt won the Gaston Menier Cup at Trouville, France. This was described as the "five mile world's championship of the sea" and the prize was $1,750. In October 1903 Levitt won the Championship of the Seas at Trouville, and the French government bought the boat for £1,000. The Lion came into service shortly before the end of the war. During the First World War the company was also contracted to build 600 aircraft at the Acton factory (50 Royal Aircraft Factory R. E.7, 400 Royal Aircraft Factory R. E.8 and 150 Sopwith Snipes). Together with the engine work, this required enormous expansion of the company.

By the end of the war, military production had tailed off and the Lion was still barely in use. In 1919 civilian car production was recommenced. The T75 motor car would be Napier's last. Designed by A. J. Rowledge (who left for Rolls Royce in 1921), its engine was a 40–50 hp alloy six with detachable cylinder head, single overhead camshaft, seven bearing crankshaft, dual magneto and coil ignition, dual plugs, and Napier SU Carburettor. Coachwork was by Cunard, by then a subsidiary. Last of the great Napier internal combustion engines was the Nomad, a complex "turbo compound" design that combined a diesel engine with a turbine to recover energy otherwise lost in the exhaust. The advantage of this complex design was fuel economy: it had the best specific fuel consumption of any aircraft engine, even to this day. However, even better fuel economy could be had by flying a normal jet engine at much higher altitudes, while existing designs filled the "low end" of the market fairly well. First run in 1949, the Nomad I underwent radical redesign for the Nomad II but was largely ignored by the market and was cancelled in 1955. Along with every major aero engine company in the post war era, Napier turned to the jet turbine. Seeing a niche not yet adopted up by the larger vendors, Napier developed a number of turboshaft designs which saw some use, notably in helicopters. Its first design, the Naiad and Double Naiad was developed for various Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm projects, but did not enter production. The smaller models developed later, the 3,000 hp class Eland and 1,500 hp class Gazelle did somewhat better, notably the Gazelle which powered several models of the popular Westland Wessex helicopter. Production ceased when a deal was struck with Rolls Royce in 1961. At the same time, the ramjet was showing promise for high speed supersonic flight. From 1951 Napier developed a successful large diameter experimental engine, the Napier Ram Jet (NRJ). Napier continued in ramjet development for several years, typically working alongside the English Electric aircraft design team.

In 1961 a new company Napier Aero Engines Limited was formed by D. Napier & Son and Rolls Royce, to take over the Napier aero engine business and the Acton engine factory. It was to continue to market the Gazelle, while the completion of existing Gazelle contracts and the Eland remained the financial responsibility of the old company. But it closed only two years later, in 1963. Following the move of the aero engine business, D. Napier & Son continued as a subsidiary of English Electric. Early in 2013 Napier Turbochargers became part of Wabtec. Napier Turbochargers currently produces turbochargers for the marine, power, and rail industries, employing around 150 people.