A Brief History of the Marque
Blumfield motorcycles were produced in 1903 and from 1910-1914.
These machines were built at Lower Essex Street, Birmingham, from 1910 onwards.
1903 The earliest model with the Blumfield name, powered by a Minerva engine, was known to have been running around Birmingham.
1910 The marque reappeared and ran in the TT. Two production models were available. Typical of the era, they had 5hp or 7hp V-twin engines, belt drive and sprung forks.
1912 Singles and twin ranging from 3.5hp to 9hp were offered as well as a two-speed gearbox. They also supplied fittings to the trade.
1913 They entered the TT once again but were not successful.
1914 Motor engineers. Specialities: motor cycle and cycle car engineers.
1914 No further motorcycles were produced after that year.
Notes
1. Knut: late Edwardian slang for motorcycle speed demon. The origin is unclear, but it may refer to an Olympic skier of 1912. The word was in use by the British forces and AIF during WWI and meant "a swanker", or dandy, a well-to-do young gentleman. "My Gawd, warn't he a Knut" exclaimed a West Essex front-liner seeing the gawdy sock of a German corpse protruding from a shell-hole.
The word featured prominently in a raunchy Australian marching song. Captain Basil Hallam Radford who created the character for the original music hall song, fell to his death in 1916 from an observation balloon during WWI.
In recent years the word has been frequently seen in reference to a certain orange-tainted politician on the other side of the ditch.
Sources: Graces Guide, slll.cass.anu.edu.au, greatwarforum.org
In Australia, activist Danny Lim uses a similar word to convey his feelings about certain elements of the political landscape, in this case far right supporter Tony Abbott, who, much to the country's great embarrassment, was briefly Prime Minister.
Fri Jan 24 2014
jendale at slingshot.co.nz
Blumfield motor cycles
Blumfield 350cc watercooled
I have a Blumfield water cooled motor of about 350cc plus its radiator. I would like to find a picture of the motor cycle it was fitted to and any information that is available on this model.
Thanks Dale
N Z
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