Cyril Pullin (18 August 1892 – 23 April 1973) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

and motorcycle race driver. His inventions contributed to the

rotary engine The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and its ...

and the

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

. His son was the pilot for the first successful British helicopter flight in 1938. Cyril Pullin died in 1973 aged 80.

Early life

Cyril George Pullin was born 1892 in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He became a well known motorcycle racer and in 1914 won the

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May and June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907 Isle of Man TT, 1907. The event begins on the UK Spring Bank Holiday at the e ...

race.

Racing career

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...

Cyril Pullin won the

with a record average of on a Rudge Multi which had a variable belt drive gearbox giving an effective option of over 20 speeds which made a huge difference on the hills. The race, which ran for over four hours was led by Oliver Godfrey (riding an Indian) and Howard R Davies (on a

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a lightbeam, beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of light scatter ...

) who dead heated for second place when Pullin overtook them both to win by only 6.4 seconds. Pullin's success on the day was sadly marred when fellow competitor in the Junior TT Frank Walker came round the final corner on his

Royal Enfield Royal Enfield is an Indian motorcycle manufacturer, headquartered and manufactured in Chennai, India. Royal Enfield (England), Royal Enfield is the oldest motorcycle manufacturer in continuous production. On 23 March 1922 at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

Pullin established a new record and became the first ever British motorcyclist to be timed at over 100 m.p.h. on a 3 hp Douglas 500cc motorcycle.

Inventions

In the 1920s Pullin developed various helicopter engine patents and in the 1940s he developed the ''Powerwheel'', a

in the hub of a motorcycle wheel, a rotating single-cylinder engine known as a ''one-lunger''. This consisted of just the cylinder and a clutch which could be engaged and disengaged, with a simple drum brake. The invention never entered production but is credited as an important step in rotary engine development. His sister was married to Stephen Leslie Bailey, a then prominent engineer at

Douglas Motorcycles Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

and many of his patents were filed under the name of that company.

Car and motorcycle business

In 1928 Pullin took over the former ''Phoenix'' factory in

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990. Letchworth ...

, Hertfordshire, to produce Ascot-Pullin Motorcycles and the Ascot car based on the Hungarian Fejes, with chassis and 10 hp engine assembled from welded steel pressings. It never went into production. A larger car, the Ascot Gold Cup Six with a 2423 cc six-cylinder engine possibly made by

Continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

, three-speed gearbox and servo brakes did become a reality and a few production cars were made. It was advertised as being available as a two-seat sports, coupé or fabric saloon.

Rotary wing aircraft

In 1932 Pullin joined G & J Weir Ltd's aircraft department, in Glasgow, Scotland, as chief designer to develop single-place autogyros. Pullin and his team designed a series of Autogiros before moving on to a small helicopter using two rotors mounted atop outriggers each side of the fuselage. The Weir W.5 was a single-seat helicopter powered by an air-cooled engine, and established a maximum airspeed of 70 mph. Its two two-blade, fixed-pitch rotors had swashplate-actuated

cyclic Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to: Anthropology and social sciences * Cyclic history, a theory of history * Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. * Social cycle, various cycles in s ...

control. The W.5 made its first flight at Dalrymple,

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

, on 7 June 1938, when it was piloted by Raymond Pullin and it became the first British helicopter to fly successfully. By

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the W.5 had logged eighty hours' flying time and was followed by a scaled-up version, the W.6, which was the first two-seater helicopter in the world, powered by a much more powerful DH Gipsy aero engine. Further progress on this model was prevented by World War II. Pullin designed the 1500 cc "Flat Twin" and the "4-Cylinder"(later called Pixie when licensed to Aero Engines Ltd of Bristol) engines which followed it. These were used in the Weir W2, W3 and W4 autogiros. The "Four Cylinder" was adapted to power the twin-rotor W5 Helicopter. After the war development at the

Cierva Autogiro Company The Cierva Autogiro Company was a British firm established in 1926 to develop the autogyro. The company was set up to further the designs of Juan de la Cierva, a Spanish engineer and pilot, with the financial backing of James George Weir, a Scot ...

of the W.9 "Drainpipe" and the 24-passenger-carrying W.11 Air Horse helicopters continued under the direction of Cyril Pullin. A fatal crash of the W11 Air Horse, due to a small component fatigue failure, put an end to this very promising heavy-lift helicopter project. The remnants of the Cierva Autogiro Company were taken over by Saunders Roe, who continued the development of the small Skeeter helicopter and put it into production.

References

Sources

Douglas Light Aero Engines from Kingswood to Cathcart. 2010. Author Brian Thorby. Redcliffe Press, Bristol

External links

1914 picture of 21-year-old Cyril Pullin on his winning motorcycle
It was an earlier model which he had designed. This site is about the TT race, and tells the story of the race and the motorcycle design

This site about old Douglas motorcycle parts digs into old engine and motor patents, specifically following various stages of Cyril Pullin's work and inventions
Image of Pullin riding motorcycle in 1923

TT database rider profile

TT database TT results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pullin, Cyril 1890s births 1973 deaths British motorcycle pioneers People from Wandsworth British automobile designers English motorcycle racers Isle of Man TT riders Aircraft designers English aerospace engineers 20th-century English sportsmen