Ariel Square Four

Ariel Square Four (1953)

At the origin of Ariel, one of the oldest and most prestigious English brands, we find a patent, that of the tensioned spokes wheel, which was decisive in the evolution of the motorcycle. But let's go to the four-cylinder engine for the motorcycle; In the 20s a young engineer from London, Eduard Turner, had a brilliant idea: he thought of putting the cylinders from two to two, forming a square.

Turner was not completely unknown, in his small workshop, located behind his house in Dulwich, he was already building a 350cc single-cylinder motorcycle with overhead camshafts. With his project of Square Four (literally four in frame), Turner proved fortune in the world of the motorcycling industry.

After pilgrimage from one factory to another, he finally found someone willing to take the risk: John Sasgster, manager of the firm Ariel, who provided an assistant and a workshop to develop the project in detail. The assistant was a young man named Herbert Hopwood, who in time would also be a brilliant designer of motorcycles.

The machine that left the workshop of Turner was revolutionary: 500 cc, camshaft in head driven by chain, double bicilíndrica configuration, with crankshafts coupled by gears. The movement was transmitted to the change from the left end of the rear crankshaft. The prototype was so light that it could adapt, for the tests, to the picture of the typical model of the Ariel, whose engine was single-cylinder of 250 cc. In addition, he could get going simply by riding in the saddle and pushing with his feet, he would start right away.

However, before the bike made its presentation in public at the Olympia Hall in London, in 1930, the builders decided to make a more solid picture. Thus was born the lucky Square Four, which after 30 years of continuous production was increased its cubicaje until reaching 1000 cc.

The motorcycle company that had relied on Turner, the Ariel, was very old. It was founded in 1870 by two highly innovative technicians: James Starley and William Hilman, who on that date patented the spoke wheel (that is, with fine tensioned spokes) which allowed for the construction of lighter bicycles. They gave the name of Ariel to his company for being that the name of the spirit of the air in the comedy of Shakespeare titled The Tempest and in that way to emphasize its main characteristic: the lightness. The first contributions of the firm Ariel to the universe of motorcycles was in 1898, with the construction of a certain number of quadricycles and engine mounted behind the rear axle. A year later there was an evolution, tricycles were manufactured with the engine in front of the rear axle, which gave it more traction. By 1902, Ariel built his first motorcycles proper, which propelled by Kerry engines, were much more advanced than those of the competition.

Then the company Ariel passed into the hands of Charles Sangster, who designed and patented a two-stroke lightweight motorcycle. Whose name would be Arielette, with very advanced features too, such as three-speed change and start-up by means of a kickstarter. But unfortunately the First World War prevented the Arielette from being manufactured. Later the interest of Charles Sangster went to the construction of automobiles and Ariel produced cars. Charles's son, Jack, projected an air-cooled two-cylinder horizontally opposed car engine. Ariel returned to manufacture motorcycles when Jack Sangster hired a highly talented designer: Valentine Page, until then employee of the JAP brand.

Page put to work and made two models, one of 500 cc with valves in the cylinder head and another 557 cc with side valves, both with innovative innovations in the box, which were produced until the 50s for its acceptance and strength . The Square Four was a very successful motorcycle that was made until the 60's of the last century and in Cuba rolled several, especially the Ari 1000 (which had really 995 cc) model Mark II, which went on sale between 1953 and 1958.