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Riley〔Information extracted from ''Notice issued in compliance with the Regulations of the Committee of The Stock Exchange, London'' (with regard to the issue of 150,000 Preference Shares of £1 each on 17 January 1934). :The Company was incorporated in England on 25 June 1896 under the name The Riley Cycle Company Limited, changed to Riley (Coventry) Limited on 30 March 1912. :In and around the year 1927 closer working arrangements were made between the Company and the Riley Engine Company and the Midland Motor Body Company whereby the designing and manufacturing resources of the three businesses were pooled. :(During 1932) these two associated concerns were absorbed by the Company which became a completely self-contained manufacturing unit on modern lines. :The Company's works at Coventry and Hendon cover a combined area of 16½ acres, in addition to which the Company owns adjoining land at Coventry of approximately 6 acres. :About 2,200 workpeople are regularly employed. Riley (Coventry) Limited. ''The Times'', Thursday, 18 January 1934; pg. 18; Issue 46655〕 was a British motorcar and bicycle manufacturer from 1890. Riley became part of the Nuffield Organisation in 1938 and was merged into the British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968. ln July 1969 British Leyland announced the immediate end of Riley production, although 1969 was a difficult year for the UK auto industry and cars from Riley's inventory may have been first registered in 1970. Today, the Riley trademark is owned by BMW. ==Riley Cycle Company== The business began as the Bonnick Cycle Company of Coventry, England. In 1890 during the pedal cycle craze that swept Britain at the end of the 19th century William Riley Jr. who had interests in the textile industry purchased the business and in 1896 incorporated a company to own it named The Riley Cycle Company Limited.〔Riley (Coventry) Limited. ''The Times'', Thursday, 18 January 1934; pg. 18; Issue 46655〕 Later, cycle gear maker Sturmey Archer was added to the portfolio. Riley's middle son, Percy, left school in the same year and soon began to dabble in automobiles. He built his first car at 16, in 1898, secretly, because his father did not approve. It featured the first mechanically operated inlet valve. By 1899, Percy Riley moved from producing motorcycles to his first prototype four-wheeled quadricycle. Little is known about Percy Riley's first "motor-car". It is, however, well attested that the engine featured mechanically operated cylinder valves at a time when other engines depended on the vacuum effect of the descending piston to suck the inlet valve(s) open. That was demonstrated some years later when Benz developed and patented a mechanically operated inlet valve process of their own but were unable to collect royalties on their system from British companies; the courts were persuaded that the system used by British auto-makers was based on the one pioneered by Percy, which had comfortably anticipated equivalent developments in Germany.〔 In 1900, Riley sold a single three-wheeled automobile. Meanwhile, the elder of the Riley brothers, Victor Riley, although supportive of his brother's embryonic motor-car enterprise, devoted his energies to the core bicycle business.〔 Riley's founder William Riley remained resolutely opposed to diverting the resources of his bicycle business into motor cars, and in 1902 three of his sons, Victor, Percy and younger brother Allan Riley pooled resources, borrowed a necessary balancing amount from their mother and in 1903 established the separate Riley Engine Company, also in Coventry.〔 A few years later the other two Riley brothers, Stanley and Cecil, having left school joined their elder brothers in the business.〔 At first, the Riley Engine Company simply supplied engines for Riley motorcycles and also to Singer, a newly emerging motorcycle manufacturer in the area,〔 but the Riley Engine Company soon began to focus on four-wheeled automobiles. Their Vee-Twin Tourer prototype, produced in 1905, can be considered the first proper Riley car. The Riley Engine Company expanded the next year. William Riley reversed his former opposition to his sons' preference for motorised vehicles and Riley Cycle halted motorcycle production in 1907 to focus on automobiles.〔 Bicycle production also ceased in 1911. In 1912, the Riley Cycle Company changed its name to Riley (Coventry) Limited as William Riley focused it on becoming a wire-spoked wheel supplier for the burgeoning motor industry, the detachable wheel having been invented (and patented) by Percy and distributed to over 180 motor manufacturers, and by 1912 the father's business had also dropped automobile manufacture in order to concentrate capacity and resources on the wheels. Exploitation of this new and rapidly expanding lucrative business sector made commercial sense for William Riley, but the abandonment of his motor-bicycle and then of his automobile business which had been the principal customer for his sons' Riley Engine Company enforced a rethink on the engine business.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Riley Motor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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