Item ST 28568 Motor Cycle Engine - Triumph Single-Cylinder, 3.5 h.p, 1911

Summary

The Triumph company was one of the most successful of the early British motorcycle manufacturers. The firm was established in 1897 by two Germans, Siegfried Bettmann and Maurice Schulte. Originally a bicycle manufacturer, the first Triumph motorcycle emerged in 1902 with a Minerva 220 c.c engine. Engines were also sourced from JAP and Fafnir before the first factory single-cylinder engine was designed by Schulte in 1906. This was a 3.5 horsepower single-cylinder unit. It was used on several models over the next decade.

The Museum's engine is serial number 16316 and was built in 1911 at the Triumph works in Coventry. It was purchased at auction by the Museum in 1972. A letter from the Triumph Engineering Company Limited in October 1972 confirmed the date of manufacture but all records relating to the early history of the company were lost in a German air raid on Coventry in 1940 which destroyed the original factory..

Physical Description

2.61KW (3.5H.P.) ENGINE NO. 16316.