SU Carbrettor History
From the Burlen Fuel SU Reference Catalogue edition 9 / Sept.94 (Salisbury, Wiltshire, England):
'The SU carburetter was patented in 1905 in the name of the late Mr.George H.Skinner, a member of the family which owned the well-known shoe firm of the time, Lilley & Skinner. He evolved an idea whereby the normal fixed-choke tube and numerous jets were replaced by an expanding choke and a single jet automatically controlled by a sliding piston and a contoured needle. He and his brother, Mr. Thomas Carlyle Skinner, developed a model on these original ideas using some of their knowledge on the shoe industry by incorporating leather bellows in the first carburetters. Calling their company the SU Company, the initials standing for 'Skinners Union', the two brothers set up a small workshop on the premisesof George Wailes & Co in the Eusten Road, London, and the machining was done for the brothers by this company. Production increased and the business was moved to 154 Prince of Wales Road, London - an old horse stable, the structure of which had to be converted to allow production to take place. After the outbreak of the first world war in 1914, the company virtually ceased carburetter production to work on Government contracts making machine-gun parts and tripods. There were app. 250 employees at that time. A few years after the war ended, in 1920, because of general recession within the motor industry due to inefficiency and high costs, the Company had to resort to making wireless parts, windscreens, water cocks and other similar engineering products to remain in business. Having survived this depression, the Company returned to producing carburetters and these were fitted to a number ot quality cars as such as Bentley, Napier and Invicta. In 1926 the SU Carburetter Company was purchased by Morris Motors Ltd, with Mr. C. Skinner as director. The Company was transfered to Adderly Park, Birmingham, alongside the Morris Commercial Cars Ltd factory where it rapidly expanded, and where a petrol pump was developed and introduced. In 1932 an Aero carburetter was developed and from this beginning a number were produced for military and civil aircraft during the mid-to-late 1930's. In 1936 the whole issued capital of the Company was acquired by Morris Motors Ltd and the SU Carburetter Co Ltd was formed. In 1939, after the outbreak of World War II, realising the importance of SU Carburetter production to the war effort, work at the Riley Plant was started to duplicate production. SU manufactured the carburetters for the Spitfires and the Hurricanes, and when the factory was damaged by two air raids on Birmingham in November 1940, the Air Ministry evacuated it to another factory at Highlands Road, Shirley. In 1941 the SU Company aquired a shadow factory in the Wharfe Valley, Yorkshire, and during these years a fuel injection pump was developed for use on Merlin engines. In 1945 the production of carburetters and fuel pumps for motor vehicles was resumed and a move to the present site at Wood Lane, Erdington, Birmingham took place in July 1947. In 1952, the formation of the B.M.C. widened the market still further. In 1965 British Motor Holdings was formed when the British Motor Corporation and Jaguar, Guy, Coventry Climax joined together. In 1967 the SU Carburetter Co developed and marketed a mechanical fuel pump and shortly after an automatic enrichment device (AED). Subsequently British Motor Holdings and Leyland joined forces to make first BLMC and later British Leyland (UK) Ltd. During 1976 SU's position was modified once again and the Company became part of a devision of Service and Parts known as SU/Butec. With the demise of SU/Butec a few years later, SU lost its identity to become Austin Rover Fuel Systems. There followed a long period of drift and decline along with its parent Austin Rover, and SU parts became more and more difficult to service. However, in 1988 SU was acquired by the Hoburn Eaton Group, who themselves were acquired by the large USA based multi-national Echlin Corporation eighteen months later. The Echlin Corporation granted SU true independence, been solely dedicated to automative components. The name SU was brought back to the forefront, and the Company today trades as SU Automotive, supplementing the traditional carburetter business with lubrication, oil pumps and fuel injection products to support changing world wide emission requirements and responding to customer needs. The change to SU Automotive allowed the Company to utilize once more the good will and heritage of the SU name. Burlen Services, the parent company to Burlen Fuel Systems, was formed in 1971, and first became involved with SU carburetters in the fuel crisis of 1973. There followed a long period of co-operation, culminating in the formation of the current Burlen Fuel Systems in 1986. Burlen Fuel Systems were practically single-handedly responsible for the re-emergence of the SU brand after many years of neglect. They upgraded its image with the new SU blue livery and first promoted the product at Autoequip in 1987, followed quickly by several other UK shows and the prestigious 1988 AutoMechanika in Germany. Burlen Fuel Systems now supllies most of the SU aftermarket requirements, being responsible for kit packing, cataloguing and sales promotion throughout the world. BFS has invested heavily in tooling, both in its own right and in joint ventures with SU Automotive in order to support the Classic market; the most recent example being the re-emergence of bodies for H Type carburetters.'
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