Excerpt:
In 1938 the Brockhouse Engineering (Southport) Ltd took over a factory in Rufford Road from The Vulcan Motor & Engineering Co Ltd, Vulcan having been acquired as Vulcan Motors Ltd in 1937 or 1938 by Tilling-Stevens, Maidstone, Kent, they continued making lorries until 1953.
The factory was renamed “Brockhouse Works”; suitable, straightforward name for the place where in 1938 according to
http://www.flightglobal.com the assembled company undertook “General machining, gear-cutting and grinding of aircraft and aero engine components in all metals. Airframe sheet-metal work and sub-assemblies. Arc welding, spot welding and welding of light alloys. Special light alloy pressings. Complete fuel tanks of various types. Complete gun turrets. Road vehicle body construction to A.M. specification”.
Seemingly they specialised in plexi-glass Boulton-Paul gun turrets for Lancaster bombers during World War II but peacetime saw them turn to motorcycle production in a small way with the Brockhouse Corgi in 1948. For those who don’t know, the Brockhouse Corgi was a tiny 98cc folding scooter which owed something to the Welbike. It was marketed in the U.S.A. as the Indian Papoose.
Indian, didn’t they make classy, sturdy V twins and the like? Yes they did, but they fell on hard times after the war and Indian borrowed an awful lot of money from (yes that’s right) Brockhouse to fund the production of new models which sadly failed to produce a good return and in 1950, Brockhouse Ltd. called in the debt, divided Indian up into separate sales and manufacturing companies, then sold pieces to Associated Motorcycles Ltd. (AMC), the British parent company of Norton, AJS, and Matchless. This really is a story about Britain and America after all; there is something quite refreshing in thinking about Southport, and “the home of the brave and the land of the free” being united in motorcycle production. Particularly of a motorbike called the Indian Brave.
Unsurprising then that in 1950 Brockhouse introduced the 248cc Indian Brave, another take on the “motorcycle for everyman” theme (think B.S.A. C10 or D1 Bantam, LE Velocette, Honda Super Cub, possibly even the Douglas Dragonfly and by all means add a few of your own) so prevalent in the post-war consciousness before the advent of affordable four-wheelers. With its rigid frame and telescopic forks the bicycle was fairly conventional for the time, also it had a side-valve engine with an alternator, three-speed gearbox built in-unit using the same oil, but the gear and kick-start pedals were on the left. It may well have seemed like a quarter litre of modest performance weirdly laid out. The rigid Brave was an export-only model marketed in the US from 1950 until 1953, a small label on the petrol tank discreetly announced: “Manufactured in Great Britain for Indian Motor Cycle Company”.
On the one hand the Brockhouse Indian Brave was described as mechanically troubled and on the other a dead reliable, workaday affair. According to an article in the June 1987 edition of “Classic Bike” it may or may not be that “mechanically troubled” tag owes something to a 1954 “Motor Cycle” road test machine which had a crankpin fail. Norman Parkinson who developed the Brave later ascribed this failure to a batch of faulty steel bar that was cracked along its length. Then again only Doctor Who could cause a 1954 magazine article to affect 1950 sales figures; or could he? As it happens a copy of “The Motor Cycle” dated 1st April (Honest *****) 1954 has an article on the Brockhouse Indian Brave which makes no mention of a crankpin failure, in fact the piece praises the various characteristics of the little bike and gives an overall impression of good favour. It seems that in forming this impression “The Motor Cycle” conducted a 700 mile road test, this could be regarded as verging on the thorough, reliable and workmanlike. Perhaps “The Motor Cycle” published two Indian Brave articles in 1954.
Whatever, the Brave is described as having been not much of a sales success on either side of the Atlantic, but the total production seems to have been around 14,000 in five and a bit years, each one tested before it left the factory. It is devoutly to be wished that each motorcycle is tested before it leaves the factory; also it should be noted that annual Meriden Triumph motorcycle production peaked in 1969 at around 46,800 units.
Be that as it may, the side-valve 248cc unit-construction engine was designed by Ernest Knibbs. It featured a modified Albion three-speed gearbox (up-for-up and down-for-down with a natty gear indicator near the riders left boot) and put out 8¼ b.h.p. at 4,800 r.p.m.. (A 192cc Velocette LE of the same period yielded 8 b.h.p., it too was a side-valve.) Norman Parkinson designed the frames, both rigid and sprung. Norman worked in the Brockhouse Works design department under Bert Gatiss who was head of the department and is credited as having invented a “change-speed control device which produced improvements in variable speed power transmission apparatus for vehicles”. Serious chaps these, as you would expect.
Brockhouse supplied the power unit to both Dot (Devoid Of Trouble) in Manchester and OEC (Osborn Engineering Company) in Portsmouth who used it in their 1952 Apollo. Its piston displaced 248.326 cc as it rose and fell for 76mm in a 64.5mm bore. The crankshaft was supported by three bearings. The engine oil supplies gearbox and primary chaincase via oil ways and there is a crankcase pressure relief valve which vents into the chaincase. Oil capacity is one U.S. quart (1.66534 of your British pints) of oil which seems dangerously frugal considering it did for the gearbox as well. At least the lubrication system featured a filter. The claims were 80 m.p.g. fuel consumption and 50 m.p.h. cruising speed, with a top speed of 59 m.p.h..
At the Earls Court Motorcycle Exhibition in 1954 Brockhouse Engineering took Stand 172 and displayed both the Indian Brave Model S (swinging arm) and the Model R (rigid) for the home market. The S went for £115.15.0d plus £23.3.0d tax and the R for £99.15.0d plus £19.19.0d. They also showed each model with a Watsonian sidecar, Windsor for the R and Eton Coupe for the S. Comerfords, Claude Rye and Godfreys were listed as London retailers of the Indian Brave. By this point the Indian Brave motorcycle might almost be described as a Neo-Indian where Neo is a prefix indicating a “new” form as distinct from a revival of an old one; which is to say that although the Southport firm owned the Springfield firm the products of the two manufactories were more closely related on the paperwork rather than in the metalwork.
Even while the Brave was still in production Brockhouse’s Norman Parkinson and Bert Gatiss put in a deal of work on a 17 b.h.p. SOHC 250 power-unit based on the side valve unit, but was a completely different unit with a one piece crankshaft. A duplex frame was designed for it and most interestingly the chain drive SOHC engine’s production costs compared favourably with those for a pushrod engine. It was scheduled to go into production in 1956 but Brockhouse pulled out of motorcycles in 1955 to concentrate on other parts of their business. Whatever sadness this may engender today it is worth noting that Brockhouse are still in the engineering business in a convincing way.
