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Company History | S.U. History
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History
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Origins
The S.U carburetter was the brainchild of the late George Herbert Skinner. He
was born at Ealing in April 1872, the son of William Banks Skinner, a director
of the well-known Lilly & Skinner footwear distributors. Despite following
his father into the footwear business, Herbert's real passion lay with the
motorcar.
Herbert was educated at Castlebar School in Ealing, and although as far as is
known he had no technical training, by 1900 he had submitted three provisional
patents covering his ideas.
In 1903 he is reported to have travelled to France to learn how to drive a
car. The following year he and his younger brother Thomas Carlisle Skinner
decided to put some of his ideas into practice and improve the carburation on a
Star motor-car they owned at this time. The vehicle's massive old carburetter
was fitted with a glass top through which they could watch the flow of fuel
from the jet.
It was clear that the suction (depression) on the jet varied in accordance
with the demands made by the engine, and it seemed to them that a big
improvement would be made if the jet could be located in an air channel of a
size varied to suit different engine speeds, so ensuring a constant depression
and air velocity.
A crude mechanism was evolved to bring this about, but it was then found that
it lacked overall performance because if a jet orifice was chosen that was
suitable for full throttle running, then this would result in an over-rich
mixture for slow running and vice versa. The answer to this problem was a
tapered needle; this varied the size of the jet orifice according to engine
demands.
A full patent was applied for by Herbert in February 1905 and
granted in January 1906. Herbert's application describes his occupation
as "Boot and Shoe Manufacturer".
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