Hi I have a 1948 Riley RM.Does anyone have details of how to overhaul them?
TIA
Mick

With apparently justified sadness, Mick wrote:
Although I cannot assist you with your question, you can blame my dearly
departed Grandfather for you problems, since it was he who actually
invented the "semaphore" which became, and was patented as the Lucas
Trafficator.

If anyone is interested in the (brief) story of how it was lost by him
to Lucas, I would be happy to post it.

Stuart H. (living in Canada)
Grandson of E.W. Parrish P.Eng. (automotive electrics)
former proprietor of "The Autowire and Maintenance Co."
92 Earl's Court Road, London, W.8.

Stuart H. (stuart (AT) health4u (DOT) ca) gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying :

I, for one, would love to hear it.

"Stuart H." <stuart (AT) health4u (DOT) ca> wrote

Me too.
Mick

Hi All,

Me too please, I've still got semaphore trafficators on my Armstrong
Siddeley, I for one would love to know the 'real' history, BTW, With
regards the original posting, Too much hassle trying to get them overhauled
or repaired, Much easier to buy 'new' ones through eBay. it worked for me
:-)

Regards
Ray

"life may not be the party you expected but you may as well get up and dance
anyway"

My Grandfather was the son of a pub owner in London, who wished that he
better himself. As a result, he apprenticed to become an electrician in
the early days of electrifcation. One place he worked was installing
the first electrical lines on Mount St. Michael in Cornwall. Once he
got his "ticket" he settled back in London, and was bitten by the bug of
the "new" motor cars. I recall him telling of riding with someone in a
car with acetylene lamps, which ran dry of water one night, and having
to help out by peeing in the reservoir to get the light going again!
He worked at different times for AC, Delco-Remy, and even Lucas, being
in on the development of the self-starter, and also the dynamo.
On his own time, in the early 1900's, he came up with the concept of the
Trafficator arm as a signalling device, and submitted a patent
application for it. Unfortunately, his lawyer advised him that it would
cost far more than he could afford to complete the process of acquiring
a patent for it, and it was a waste of time since "after all, old chap,
it will never sell. It is too small, and not anywhere near as visible
as a person's arm-signals". On this ill advice, he withdrew the
application. Lucas, since the information was now common property,
snapped up his application information and resubmitted it, thus ending
up with the patent.

Not to be deterred in his ambition, he decided to open his own
automotive repair shop down on Earl's Court Road, and purchased the
building that was being vacated by a Car Hire firm. To save on money,
he decided to change the sign on the shop from "The Autohire and
Maintenance Company" to "The Autowire and Maintenance Company", thus
only having to replace one letter! He continued to specialize in auto
electrics, and eventually held a number of patents (which I have the
originals of). The most lucrative one was for "sparkless" wiring for
petrol tankers to meet new government safety regulations brought in
after WW11. That required every petrol tanker on the public roads in
Britain to have to pass through his shop for rewiring!

He gave up driving at age 85 after getting his first ever traffic
violation ticket.

Stuart H.

Stuart H. (health (AT) telusplanet (DOT) net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying :

<snip>

Sounds like he was one of the good guys...

"Stuart H." <health (AT) telusplanet (DOT) net> wrote

Snip

Fascinating stuff. At least the lawyer didn't go on to submit the patent
application in his own name like Mr Ackermann of steering fame.

Ron Robinson



--
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On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:06:02 +0100, "R.N. Robinson"
<ronrob (AT) frumiousbandersnatch (DOT) freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

Oi!! I am Mr. Bump-Steer, and I claim my five pounds.

R.N. Robinson <ronrob (AT) frumiousbandersnatch (DOT) freeserve.co.uk> wrote

a material for making hygienic boxes. He told me his idea got stolen when
he couldn't afford to pursue it, and now Tupperware is a household name.

Jim