The firm also offered the machine in kit form and later added the option of Fafnir or Whitley engines. With a slump in trade, they dropped motorcycles and returned to the sidecar trade they were already familiar with, supplying other manufacturers including AJS, Royal Ruby and Brown Brothers.
1932 Purchased Rex-Acme and produced motorcycles under that name until 1933.
Mills-Fulford of Crown Works, Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry
1904 Partnership dissolved.
1909. Monoplane.
1913 Incorporated as a Limited Company.
1914 Sidecar manufacturers. Specialities: cycles, trailing cars, fore cars, side cars and jinrickshas.
Stand 07. Mills and Fulford are showing a very varied assortment of trailers for towing purposes behind cycles and motorcycles. The newest pattern is heavier and more strongly built for use with a motorcycle, the basketwork being closely woven and most comfortably upholstered in coloured leather. The under frame is carried forward from the axle by double tubing to a bridge piece. The connecting tube, or backbone, comes down to this budge, and the slope of the car can be made suitable to its occupant, and also to the height of the motorcycle frame. It has this other merit that the backbone may be loosened and swung backward, or removed entirely for convenience of railway travelling. The new joint marks an advance on last year's method. The lower plate is brazed to the connecting tube, the ball connecting piece is then socketted between the fixed and the loose plate, and the latter are firmly bolted together. The two halves of the connecting piece are now hinged together, and fastened by a winged nut, thus greatly facilitating attachment and detachment. A couple of juvenile trailers and the new tradesmen's trailers ire included in the exhibit. The Millford Hanson is novel. The front forks, steering stem and handlebar of a safety are removed, and the frame of the cycle is attached to the framework of a two-wheeled for carriage the steering bar being on the back of the basket.
1902 Stanley Show in Motor Cycling, November 20th, 1902.
Mills and Fulford.
Trailers, forecarriages, and sidecars comprise the principal features of the exhibit of Messrs. Mills and Fulford on Stands 46 and 47. Their side-carriage attachment was very fully described and illustrated in The Motor Cycle as recently as November 11th. There is, therefore, no need to enter into details here. As this firm were one of the earliest, if not actually the earliest, to devote their attention to specialising trailers, the manufacture of forecarriages and sidecars came very naturally to them, and the results of their work are well worthy of inspection. One of the principal points on the motor cycle side of the exhibit is a motor with forecarriage fitted with a 3½ h.p. Hamilton motor. This is provided with an air-cooling fan on the valve side, this being mounted on ball bearings, and driven from the motor crankshaft by means of a short leather belt.
The constructional features of the forecarriage are very well carried out on recognised lines, particular attention having been paid to the steering arrangements. Band brakes on the front hubs, applied by means of a pedal, are operated by the right foot of the driver. The rear wheel is fitted with Bowden-applied brake. The machine is fitted with a very attractively designed basketwork carriage. There is also shown a similar machine fitted with a coach-built body. Other examples are a Quadrant bicycle fitted with a forecarriage, and another machine with a Minerva engine. (Stand 47.)
The Motor Cycle November 25th, 1903. p852
Crystal Palace Show 1903
Mill's and Fulford's Castor Wheel Sidecar, fitted to a 1906 Rex Motor Bicycle.
There are several improvements in Millford passenger attachments for motor bicycles. Messrs. Mills and Fulford have introduced an extremely practical form of sidecar design by Mr. Douglas Leechman. It is attached to the bicycle in the ordinary manner, viz., by means of clips to the top of the j diagonal frame tube, to the saddle pin, and to the inner side step on the rear wheel. The frame of the sidecar is composed of straight tubes throughout, and evidently has been scientifically thought out. The chief feature of the attachment, of course, is the trailing wheel - castor wheel it has been called after its action, though it does not resemble a castor. This trailing wheel is carried much in the same way as the rear wheel on a bicycle, except that what in the latter case would be the saddle tube is a ball bearing head. Yet another passenger carrier brought out by the same firm is a rear carriage, the chief point about it being one of detachability. A ball joint fixed to the centre of the longitudinal tubes is clipped on to the down tube of the motor bicycle frame. By undoing one large nut the complete attachment may be removed in a remarkably short space of time.
The spring wheel design introduced some three seasons ago will be. on view, fitted with a variety of bodies, including a handsome coach built car finished on motor car Fines. All 1911 Mills-Fulford side cars will be fitted with the firm's latest patented form of attachment whereby the car can be detached or re-attached inside of two minutes. In addition to this, Mills-Fulford will have on view the latest patterns of hoods, wind screens, petrol carriers, luggage boards and tool boxes.
1910 Stanley Show Report
THE LATEST "MILLFORD" SIDECAR
THERE is an indication that the sidecarist who intends to go in for serious touring will not be satisfied this year with the ordinary protection provided by an apron. Where cost is no consideration, lady passengers usually have a preference for a well-upholstered body with side doors and torpedo front. Popular demand also asks, so we are informed by Mills-Fulford, for a chassis and body with as low a position as possible. This firm has, therefore, applied for the registration of a frame design which we illustrate. This frame enables the body to be slung as close to the ground as is consistent with safety, the actual clearance being 5½in. The body is coach built of three-ply wood and luxuriously upholstered, the front portion being entirely covered in, so that when the hood and screen are up the passenger is protected from the very worst weather. When out of use the screen lies on the top of the torpedo front.
The body is carried on the usual type of "Millford" springs at the rear, but in front leaf springs of the "C" type are connected by shackles to the body, which should ensure the utmost comfort for the passenger. The new model is called the "Millford Cabrio", and can also be supplied with other types of bodies than the one illustrated, made of cane or wicker.
Messrs. Mills-Fulford, whose address is Crown Works, Coventry, have just issued a new catalogue.
The Motor Cycle January 25th, 1912.
Family and Other Patterns.
Millford sporting sidecar with mudguard in body.
MILLS-FULFORD, LTD., Crown Works. Coventry.
Several improvements have been effected in the Millford range of sidecars, the outstanding alterations being chiefly in the big family model. Last year this double-seater was roomy, but the addition of a good-sized bulbous back adds considerably to its effectiveness as a touring sidecar. The greater height, too, of the front back-rest is a decided improvement, and the well for the feet of the rear passenger is a minor alteration that will be acceptable to tall passengers., The important question of price has been studied closely by the makers, and reductions of from £3 to £9 5s. have been effected.
In the "Favourite" pattern, for instance, the original £30 has been reduced to £25, and, in addition, all models are sent carriage paid in free crates. Amongst the innovations for 1923 is a little sporting sidecar of taking design marketed at £18 18s. in standard three-ply wood, and at £21 in polished aluminium. The most important and far-reaching alteration is the attaching of the mudguards to the body instead of to the stays. Elimination of rattle is thus effected. The Millford Rock chassisless sidecar is shown at £25; it is one of the most comfortable on the market to-day.
Olympia Show 1922, The Motor Cycle November 30th, 1922.
Sources: Graces Guide; The Motor Cycle.
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