Making the ROVER

In 1925 ROVER published a small brochure, in which the company's history was described and it explained how a ROVER automobile was built. All internal stations are described.

Roverdom
Being a few pages of motoring history, and a short description of how Rover Cars are made

The Rover Company Limited Coventry

It was in 1877 that John Kemp Starley and William Sutton, two clever engineers of Coventry, decided to join forces in order to build bicycles, to which at that period the famous old midland city was turning for something to substitute the ruined silk and watch industries that hitherto had made it famous. They traded as Starley and Sutton, but the partnership did not subsist long, for the public demand for the ordinary, or high bicycle, was not over brisk. Mr. Sutton withdrew and Mr. J.K.Starley carried on. But he, too, saw that there was no great future before the bicycle as it was then designed. Obviously it was only for the young and athletic, and dangerous at that. He has left it on record that after a few years he contemplated emigrating when the idea evolved itself in his mind that by reversing the existing order of design in bicycles, and by driving through the rear wheel and steering with the front wheel, safety, the great desideratum, would be attained, and a form of machine secured which would not present any considerable difficulty to mount or dismount from.

The ROVER Headquarters: "Meteor Works", Coventry

The ROVER Showrooms, Coventry

Out of that idea he planned what is now the only type of bicycle made throughout the world. It did not come in one inspiration, but in a few stages, and it was in 1994 that the „Rover“ rear driving bicycle was exhibited at the Stanley Show in the Agricultural Hall, and, in the words of Mr. Henry Sturmey, „set the fashion to the world.“ It did more, for it became the industrial salvation of Coventry, and founded the school of engineers in France and this country who, when the motor car came along, were best equipped to develop it, and therefore were most attracted to the task. The success of the machine from the beginning was such that, inside a year, it had been sold all over Europe, India, Africa, Australia and America. Indeed it went to very old corners of the earth, for when Colonel Younghusband’s Expedition entered the forbidden City of Lhassa in 1904, one of the surprises there discovered was a Rover bicycle!

The firm prospered and became one of the five big Coventry bicycle makers, and the original works in West Orchard, which had but 25 hands in the early eighties, soon became congested despite considerable expansions. When the cycle boom of 1895-6 cam along, J.K.Starley & Co. was floated into the Rover Cycle Co., with capital of £150,000, Sir Frederick Dixon-Hartland becoming chairman, Mr. J.K. Starley managing director, and Mr. Harry Smith sectretary. In 1898 the West Orchard works were abandoned for the present factory on the Poddy Croft estate, but no move was made to enter the new motor cycle arena while Mr. Starley lived. He died in 1902 (Note: the right date is Oct 1901) at the early age of 46, and Mr. Harry Smith was appointed general manager, and Mr. J.K.Starley, Junr. became assistant works manager.

The ROVER - House, London represents the manufacturer and his products in elegant surroundings - outside and inside Besides this there is an separate Repair Depot

A year later it was decided to proceed to manufacture a motor bicycle, and in 1903 the first machine was completed. This was a 2¾ (¼??) h.p. single cylinder engine with the then newly adopted mechanically operated inlet valve. About this time there was something of a rush in the British cycle industry to produce motor bicycles, and, as a result, the public being still in a process of motoring education, there was insufficient trade to make the departure profitable for everyone. In short there was a slump, and a number of cycle firms abandoned motors. The Rover Company, however, merely altered its centre of gravity and decided to produce motor cars. To that end a clever and highly original designer, Mr. Edmund Lewis, was engaged to design a small car. The result was one of the most remarkable of all the small cars that have ever been built and sold.

It had no chassis frame in der ordinary sense, two large section aluminium tubes, forming a T, taking its place, the central tube, carrying and containing the 8 h.p. single cylinder engine, clutch, gear box, and cardan shaft transmission, and the cross piece forming the rear axle and differential housing. In this the Rover Company can claim to have made the first motor car designed on what is now known as the unit system. It made its first public appearance in 1904 and immediately served with persistence in the various hill climbs and speed trials organised to demonstrate the development of motoring. Its popularity increased and next year it was estimated that there were more Rover eights on the road than of any other make.

It is curious to realise that the eight was considered a trifle too powerful and expensive for all those who were willing to adventure into motoring, and so in 1906 (Note: sales started in 1905), a still smaller but more orthodox 6 h.p. model was produced to sell at 100 guineas, and was supplemented by a four-cylinder 16-20 h.p. In 1905 the Rover Cycle Co. Ltd., was converted into the Rover Company Ltd. In 1906 the 16-20 h.p. model had been entered for the Tourist Trophy race in the Isle of Man, but owing to some misunderstanding regarding the hour for the presentation of the car, it arrived at the enclosure too late and was one of half a dozen that were excluded on that account. However the firm had an ample revenge in 1907, for with Courtis, who had been the excluded driver, at the wheel it won the event handsomely by over a dozen minutes, the distance of the race being 242 miles. Only two cars actually finished, mainly owing to their fuel allowance - 25 miles to the gallon - having proved insufficient at the speeds allowed on a wet course. But the Rover had a gallon left!

In 1907 the ROVER 16/20hp wins the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man. Please find more about the ROVER 16/20hp and the Tourist Trophy under ⇒ Tourist Trophy 1907

For the next four years the concern enjoyed a steady but uneventful prosperity; and in 1911 it produced a car which not only was the greatest success of its year, but for the first time set the Continental makers a pace in value for money which they were unable to equal. It was a four-cylinder of simple design and high efficiency and economy, selling at the then remarkably low figure of £350. With the reputation for sound construction enjoyed by all Rover productions, it captured the market and enjoyed such popularity that supplies for two years were in arrears to the demand. The prosperity of the company reached its zenith when the war was burst on us, and the Rover works were immediately placed at the disposal of the Government.

At first they were required to produce Maudslay 3-ton lorries and Sunbeam 16 h.p. cars and subsequently shells in huge quantities. Stokes‘ guns, aeroplane bombs and other munitions of war were turned out day and night until the end of 1918. When the Peace Treaty was signed in 1919, the factory was released from the control of the Ministry of Munitions and by smart work under pressure the now well-known 8 h.p. twin-cylinder air-cooled Rover car was exhibited at the revived Olympia Show and once again the firm were overwhelmed with orders. As the 12 h.p. had also been revived, a separate factory at Tyseley, on the outskirts of Birmingham, was taken over to produce the 8 h.p. and 1500 hands werde soon at work on these.

By successive reductions in price as the cost of production permitted, the demand for the Rover cars continued. In March, 1923, Mr. Harry Smith retired from the position of Managing Director and was succeeded by Mr. J.K.Starley, who had become Works Manager in 1903. The 12 h.p. was developed into the 14 h.p. The four-cylinder 9/20 h.p. car was marketed in 1924 and in 1925 the new 14/45 h.p. Rover, which has created so much admiration throughout the motoring world, was introduced.

The head offices of the Rover Company are at the Meteor Works, Coventry, where employment for no fewer than 1500 hands is provided and a large number of operations is carried out here. Iron, bronze and aluminium castings are produced in the foundry - which is one of the best equipped in the Midlands - and forgings in the smithy, while wings and panels are beaten, and radiators made, besides the enormous number of machining operations which are carried out in the vast machine shop filled with every conceivable kind of machine tool. In fact, the only parts of the cars not made inside the Rover factories are the electrical equipment, the carburetter, the tyres and wheels.

The body building works at Parkside, Coventry, is another large factory. It is equipped with some of the most up-to-date woodworking machinery anywhere to be found. Here the bodies for all the new 14/45 h.p. Rover cars are built, including the Weymann type saloons which are both light and rattle-proof. Trimming and upholstering are done at the Parkside works, but the painting is carried out at the Meteor Works, where a battery of steam-heated drying rooms, in which the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere are variable at will, has recently been installed. In addition, the Company carries on the manufacture of its famous bicycles, and its „350 c.c.“ motor cycle, at St. John’s Works, Coventry. There is, also, a further works called Fleet Works in Coventry, this being a car repair station.

In London, the Rover showrooms are to be found at 61 New Bond Street, where a handsome building - „Rover House“ - has recently been completed. Here, in the heart of the most exclusive section of the West End, Rover Cars are displayed in one of the finest Motor-Car Showrooms to be found in the Metropolis. Further to cater for the requirements of Rover car owners in London and the Home Counties, a splendid equipped Service Depot is maintained by the Company at Seagrave Road, Fulham, S.W.6.

And, of course, there is an Authorized Rover Dealer in practically every town of any size throughout the whole of Great Britain and Ireland, while the fame of Rover Cars overseas is well safeguarded by a chain of agents stretching through the British Dominions and in many foreign countries.

Well may it be said that „Rover“ is one of the most famous names in the whole world of wheels.

How Rover Cars are made

A tour round the works of The Rover Company Ltd. reveals how extensive a plant is necessary for the production of a modern motor-car. Of course, it is possible to assemble a car from component parts purchased from outside manufacturers, but The Rover Company, wishing to ensure that every item that enters into the composition of a Rover car is of a quality and workmanship that is above suspicion, prefers to manufacture in Rover factories everything it possibly can.

In this policy, undoubtedly, lies the secret of the wonderful reputation for reliability and long-wearing that Rover cars enjoy, fot it is the proud boast of the Company that, except for such specialised items as electrical equipment, tyres, wheels and minor body fittings, every part of a Rover car is of Rover manufacture.

The 14/45 h.p. model car is made throughout at the Meteor Works of the Company at Coventry, and, while the following description of the operations and processes which enter into the production of the car apply in the main to the Coventry Works, it must be borne in mind that the Tyseley plant (where the 8 h.p. and 9/20 h.p. cars are made) comprises a separate factory of almost the same magnitude.

Briefly to enumerate the various departments of the works, it may be said that the Drawing Office first produces the designs and specifications for which material is purchased by the Buying Department. The Laboratory tests the material delivered to ensure that it is of the requisite high quality; the Foundry produces castings in iron, bronze and aluminium from patterns made by the Pattern-Making Department; the Machine Shop performs the necessary operations upon the raw castings, which afterwards pass to the various Assembling Departments, where the several units, such as engines, gearboxes, back axles, etc., are built up, these later being erected as chassis. Then the Tinsmiths produce tanks, radiators, etc.; the Body Work build, panel and trim the bodies which are mounted on the tested chassis and painted. The car is now practically ready; it merely remains for it to be finally tested on the road and tuned and adjusted to maximum efficiency. Let us now examine the various departments in more detail.

The Drawing Office

Although the title of this department may conjure up visions of long-haired artists with Chelsea bows discussing the latest Epstein production, such is very far from the case. It is the duty of the Drawing Office to produce the designs and specification of every component part of the car, and to supply blue prints of them to the departments of the works concerned with their production; and to „set out“ the numerous jigs and tools necessary to the machining of the parts.

Incidentally it may be mentioned that it is possible for the Drawing Office to supply blue prints and specification of ay Rover car ever manufactured, and to be asked for a drawing of some part of a model long obsolete, but still giving its owner useful service, is an every-day occurance. In all, there are over 60 persons continually employed in the various Drawing Offices of the Rover Company at Coventry and Tyseley.

The Laboratory

In charge of a qualified metallurgical chemist, who is aided by expert assistants, the Laboratory acts as a watchdog guarding the interests of every owner of a Rover car. Continual testing of the material, both before and after it is worked up into the various components, ensures that breakdowns of the car due to faults in material will be reduced to the absolute minimum.

Here is an example of how the Laboratory’s work performs this function: Quite recently a batch of steel specified to contain .45 per cent of carbon was delivered and specimens were tested for carbon content by being heated in the electric furnace to 950°C, oxygen being passed over into a solution of potash, which absorbs the carbon in form of carbon dioxide, and the difference in weight of the potash slution before and after th operation indicating the quantity of carbon in the steel. In the present instance the carbon content was proved to be .38 per cent, and the material was rejected. Had it been used for the purpose intended failure of the metal would probably have occurred sooner or later - although perhaps not for twelve month.

Take again the cylinder castings: not only is the iron of which they are made analysed, but also the limestone used for fluxing the iron, and the coke used in the cupola. An excess of sulphur in the coke finds its way into the iron during the casting and causes blowholes and excessive hardness. Three samples of the metal used in the casting of cylinders, crank cases, etc., are traken and analysed everyx day in order to ensure that the materials used are exactly right.

The Foundry

The main foundry at Meteor Works is engaged on production of grey iron and mallable iron castings and there is a large branch foundry devoted exclusively to aluminium and copper alloys.

The grey iron foundry is equpped with special pneumatic moulding machines for making moulds for the 14/45 h.p. cylinder and head, and also the 9/20 h.p. cylinder and head. The coresfor the internal parts of the castings are made in a mixture of sea sand and silica sand banded with a special preparation which ensures the easy removal of the sand after casting.

The ROVER Iron Foundry

The Foundry for Non-ferruous Metals

Daily tests of the mixtures of iron used are carried out, both for analysis and physical properties. The cupula has a melting capacity of 3½ tons per hour.

In the malleable foundry all work is produced from moulding machines. Melting is effected in a cupula, and threee samples are taken daily at intervals during melting, and analysis made whilst melting is in progress. The castings, after cleaning, pass to the annealing ovens. The plant consists of two special gas-fired ovens of 2½ tons capacity each. In the annealing process, the furnaces are heated up to 950°C, maintained at this temperature for 120 hours, then slowly cooled. A special feature of the annealing plant is the temperature-recording outfit. The larger ovens are each fitted with four thermo-couples, and the small ovens with one thermo-couple. These are connected to recorders and controlled by switch boards, so that records of temperature at different parts of the oven are made continuously, day and night.

Samples, after annealing, are tested by analysis and also subject to a hammering test.

In the non-ferrous foundry there is a large production of aluminium alloys, gun metal, phosphor bronze, and special lead bronzes.

All aluminium is melted in brick-lined barrel furnaces by town gas. The gas and air are pre-mixed in the correct proportions to form a slightly reducing atmosphere during combustion in the furnace. The mixture is then forced through a system of supply pipes to each of the four furnaces in daily operation. This system of melting was installed in 1914, after lengthy experiments, and has given highly successful results.

Gun metal and phosphor bronze are melted in somewhat similar furnaces, in which slight modifications have been introduced to ensure the required higher melting temperature

The moulding plant consists of two large and ten smaller pneumatic moulding machines, together with a number of hand operated machines. The large machines are capable of ramming a complete mould for the 14/45 h.p. crankcase in 11 minutes, and two complete moulds for the 9/20 h.p. crankcase in 14 minutes.

In connection with aluminium alloys, importance is attached to temperature of the metal at the time of casting, and this is checked by immersing a special type of thermo couple in the molten metal. This operation only occupies a few seconds.

Aluminium is alloyed with copper, also with copper and zinc, and various types of alloy are used, each casting being made in the alloy which experiment has shown to be the most suitable. Small bushes and bearings are made in different qualities of gunmetal and phosphor bronze, also a high lead bronze for special bearings.

The Rover foundry is one of the very bes equipped foundries in the whole motor industry, and the quality of its work is renowned. The Rover Company are fortunate in having the services, as presiding genius over the foundry, of an expert whose talent is recognised throughout the British foundry world.

The Machine Shops

The very highest standard of accuracy is demanded of the Rover Machine Shops at Coventry and Tyseley, which between them, afford employment to over 1,500 hands. The majority of the machinery is of the very latest type, and, as there are approximately 1,000 separate machines, some of which have cost as much as £1,800 apiece, it will be realised that many hundreds of thousands of pounds would be needed to replace these veritable forests of machinery, the driving of which necessitates over six miles of belting.

The ROVER Machine Shops

Automatic machinery of highly perfected type is here in profusion; one battery of 30 „Potter and Johnsons,“ which is fully occupied night and day, is the pride of the Machine Shop Superintendent, who claims that few works in the country possess similar equipment. The working of some of these automatics is so amazing as to be almost uncanny. By a complicated arrangement of cams and levers, operation after operation is carried out without human assistance, the machine varying its speed automatically to suit the particular operation in progress.

One machine, for instance, takes a rough billet of steel, pegs away silently and forcefully of its own volition, and, at the end of an hour and a quarter, audibly announces that it has done its job - something after the style of the domestic fowl heralding the arrival of an egg (although not quite in the same style) - and presents the Rover Company with a flywheel, completely finishd in every respect. Then there is the „Churchill Face Grinder,“ which grinds - not the face of the tax-payer - but a cylinder head, on both sides, in 20 minutes.

Connecting rods and bushes are „broached“ by a new hydraulic broach - the first machine of its type to be ordered in this country. This machine finishes a connecting-rod bush to a gauge limit of half-a-thousandth of an inch, and leaves the inside surface of the bush with a highly polished finish, which is long-wearing and needs no scraping or „bedding-in.“ A similar fine limit of accuracy is ensured to the gudgeon pin hole in the piston, while limits of one-thousandth of an inch are imposed in numerous places, such as on the camshaft, the rockers, and the castellated main-shaft of the gearbox. The gear wheels themselves are ground after hardening, and here the degree of accuracy required and obtained is one-fifth of a thousandth of an inch.

These are merely a few of the reasons for the quiet, smooth running and remarkable efficiency of Rover Cars, and by no other means than this remarkable accuracy in machining can similar result be obtained in automobile engineering.

Bodies

Body Department	Hood and Cushion Making
Producing Tanks	Delivery of Engines

The body work of Rover Cars always attracts favourable comment, and well it may, for the greatest care is taken during building to ensure that the bodies shall be not only comfortable, but long-wearing, good in appearance, and durable. Bodies for Rover cars are made throughout in Coventry, those for the 14/45 h.p. model being made at the Rover Company’s body works at Parkside, while the 8 h.p. and 9/20 h.p. bodies are made at a separate factory at Stoke.

At the Parkside works along, nearly 300 hands are employed, and here one finds a formidable array of the very latest wood-working machines, the majority of them being used for the shaping of the numerous component parts of the body framing. All the timber is cut to jigs, and only prime quality seasoned ash is used for the material, thus eliminating the possibility of warping occurring after the body has been panelled and painted.

Five different types of body are made for the 14/45 h.p. chassis, and all of them are panelled in aluminium with the exception of the Weymann type saloon body, which, of course, has a fabric covering stretched tightly over a wood framing. A point to note in connection with the coachbuilt body is that all the roof panels are welded nto one piece, so that there are no joints to leak. Another important detail is that the aluminium panelling is turned over the framing of the windows so that as little wood as possible is left exposed.

An interesting department of the body-building works is found in the section where hoods and cushion squabs are manufactured. Only the very best leather is, of course, used for the upholstery of the 14/45 h.p. car, and the cushion squabs are made up on wired spring cases which ensure long life and maximum comfort for the occupants of the car.

Rover bodies are painted and varnished in the thorough and painstaking manner that results in their looking so well for years on end. In fact, there are pre-war Rover cars still running about which retain a good appearance despite the fact that they have never been repainted. Naturally, however, a good deal depends upon the way in which the owner cares for his car, but, none the less, a Rover retains its good looks longer than the majority of cars.

Making the Chassis

Before the bodies are mounted on the chassis, the latter receive a lengthy road test, during the course of which the car has to perform up to a certain standard, both as regards power and petrol consumption. These tests passed, the bodies are mounted, windscreens, lamps and other equipment fitted, and the completed cars are then sent out for a final testing on the road. When a car is eventually „passed out,“ it may be taken that it is ready to give its owner years of faithful service, for there is very little that can get past the final tester’s watchful eye. And so the car passes to the Dispatch Department, where the final items of equipment, such as tools, jack, pump, etc., are added, and the car goes out to start upon its useful life.

So you will see that Rover Cars are built from start to finish in that careful way that has for so long been associated with British goods of the highest class. There is little of the „mass-production“ touch about the Rover - and bear in mind that „mass-production“ might in most cases be more accurately spelt „mess-production.“ If you are already a motorist, you will appreciate how the high reputation which Rover Cars bear has been built up; if you should not be a motorist, we hope you will realise that the all-too-brief description of the Rover Works which we have compressed into this booklet signifies something very real - that you will get satisfactory service from a Rover Car, in fact.

The Paint Shop

Neary ready for delivery

We can only add that we are at all times only too pleased to show interested visitors round our works so that they may see for themselves the multitudinous processes which go to the manufacture of a motor-car.
The Rover Company Ltd., Coventry