Percy Martin (1871-1958) was an American-born British engineer and automobile manufacturer. Born in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

19 June 1871 he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering, specializing in electrical engineering, from

The Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

in 1892.Richard A. Storey, ‘Martin, Percy (1871–1958)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004

General Electric

He worked for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

and

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

then in 1901 on holiday in England and through a chance meeting he was asked to take up the works manager's position at the

Daimler Company The Daimler Company Limited ( ), prior to 1910 The Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H. J. Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The comp ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

which he did in October 1901. The following July he married Alice Helen Heublein from Hartford, Connecticut, they had a son and a daughter.

Daimler

Soon rationalising Daimler's range of 10 different models he promptly designed then completed the entry into production of two new cars, Daimler's 22 hp and 12 hp. He established improved incentive payments and improved the management of Daimler's design, operations and materials.

Daimler and B.S.A.

On the merging of the businesses of Daimler and arms and munitions manufacturer

Birmingham Small Arms Company The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand, power, and ...

in October 1910 Percy Martin took up the position of managing director of the combined enterprise. He was to serve more than twenty years in that post. ;World War I In December 1916 he was appointed Controller of Internal Combustion Engines by the

Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis o ...

and to The Air Board where he represented the Ministry of Munitions. ;Airco In January 1920 B.S.A., on Martin's say so, bought from

George Holt Thomas George Holt Thomas (31 March 1869 – 1 January 1929) aviation industry pioneer and newspaper proprietor. Holt Thomas founded, in 1911, the business which became Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited or Airco. Son and grandson of successful ar ...

his aircraft business, Airco. In wartime Airco had been producing new aircraft at the rate of one every 45 minutes. The B.S.A. board made the purchase presuming Martin had carried out a due diligence investigation which he hadn't. The Airco companies were on the brink of financial collapse. Though they were closed immediately the losses were so grievous that B.S.A., one of the nation's major industrial combines, was obliged to miss paying a dividend for four years.Davenport-Hines, R. P. T. (2004). ''Dudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade Warrior''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . ;Retirement At the beginning of the 1930s there were boardroom disagreements, a new chairman and, only technically subject to his direction, new executives covering much of his area of responsibility. Martin remained with B.S.A. and its subsidiary Daimler until his retirement from day to day responsibilities in Aprll 1934 at a time when in spite of

the depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion ...

B.S.A. still directly employed more than 11,000 people. He was appointed chairman of Daimler. He gave up his seat on the B.S.A. board after one more year.Birmingham Small Arms Company. ''The Times'', Wednesday, Nov 13, 1935; pg. 19; Issue 47220

Sleeve valves and Daimler's fluid flywheel

Percy Martin was particularly involved in two successful technical developments, the development and introduction in 1908 of

sleeve valve The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in the United States in the Willys-Knight car and light truck. T ...

s for Daimler's engines and, in 1930, their

fluid flywheel A fluid coupling or hydraulic coupling is a hydrodynamic or 'hydrokinetic' device used to transmit rotating mechanical power.Wilson Wilson may refer to: People *Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender *Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Rod ...

s epicyclic gearboxes and a forerunner of automatic transmissions.

Death

After retirement Martin remained in England living at

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, which joins the ...

near Coventry where he died in November 1958 a few months after his wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Percy 1871 births 1958 deaths Businesspeople from Columbus, Ohio