The First Carburetters
Over the next few years, Thomas Carlyle Skinner (known as Carl), who was Herbert's younger brother and who had a practical ability, had begun to try some of his brothers concepts on a Star motorcar that he then owned. The idea was to place the fuel jet in an air channel that could be varied in size, in accordance with the demand of the engine, thereby giving a constant depr
ession and air velocity. Herbert was granted a full patent (no. 3257) for this device in January 1906. At this stage a tapered metering needle, to vary the flow of petrol, had not been thought of. The two brothers continued to work together and their first carburetters were made at the premises of George Wailes & Co. at Euston Road, London, where Carl became a partner with George Waile's son. In 1908 Herbert was granted another patent (no. 26,178) for a carburetter having a 'collapsable chamber' and a 'fuel needle valve', which was located in an adjustable block (i.e. Herbert's inventive genius had therefore devised the basic principles of the later 'constant vacuum' S.U carburetter. In August 1910, 'The S.U. Company Ltd' (S.U being a contraction of 'Skinners Union') was formed and some time later moved onto premises at 154 Prince of Wales Road, Kentish Town, London. By 1913 the company's accounts showed that they were supplying 'Sloper' carburetters (so called because the suction chamber and needle assembly was positioned at an angle from vertical, in order to reduce the fluctuations of the chamber when driving over the rough, unmetaled, roads of the period) to Wolseley Motors and the Rover Co. The First Carbs
If Herbert was the inventive genius, his brother Carl was the practical "engineer". Carl was born at Ealing in June 1882 and educated at the Leys School in Cambridge. Again it is not known where or even if he received any technical training. Carl also joined the family business but by 1906 he had teamed up with R.P. Wailes to manufacture and fit carburetters. There was also a third brother by the name of John, of whose involvement little is known other than that he appears to have been a director of the Company by about 1913. It is not clear when the first experimental carbs were produced, but they were almost certainly made at George Wailes & Co.'s works at 258 Euston Road. When George Wailes sold the works and premises in 1906, Carl became a partner with George's son and they took temporary premises in Euston Buildings while new works at 386-388 Euston Road were being built. For some years carburetters were fitted and tuned to individual cars. The new works had an 8 ft by 16 ft, 30 cwt capacity lift which served all four floors as well as the roof and basement. Surprisingly, the top floor was used to fit and tune while the carburetters themselves were manufactured in the works below from working drawings prepared by the Chief Draughtsman, Mr J.O. Gardner, to Herbert's sketches. Herbert's main responsibility appears to have been one of design and improvement, which he pursued with vigour and also protection by way of patents of his ideas; a full patent covering the constant depression idea was granted in England in 1906, and additional patents were taken out in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the USA. Herbert's inventive genius was not confined to the S.U; he took out patents in 1907 and 1908 on a hydraulic variable speed gear and a detachable strap for ladies' court shoes and slippers, and later for a paraffin carburetter, an aero-carburetter and a supplementary fuel supply valve for cold starting. There is some evidence to suggest that the carburetter was originally branded "The Union Carburetter" but this was soon superseded by "The S.U Carburetter", being the abbreviation of "Skinner's Union".
