.. Albert. H. G. Girling 1881-1971 ..
AHG was born in 1881 in England and he was trained as a carpenter in his father�s business. He then became interested in mechanics and trained as a mechanical engineer. AHG designed and invented for the whole of his working life, lectured and was an �expert witness�. He is mostly known for his work on braking systems however he designed and built an aero sledge and tractor units for Sir Ernest Shackleton�s expedition in 1914. The tractor units are at present exhibited in the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch New Zealand.
During the first World War, AHG enlisted in the Army Service Corps and from 1915 onwards was seconded to the Royal Artillery. He finished the War with the rank of Staff Sergeant. His friend Col. Thomas Order Lees did endeavour to get him a commission and a transfer but this was in 1918 and the war ended. He served in the trenches and was wounded when a piece of shrapnel went through one side of his face and out of the other. Fortunately it did not do any lasting damage except for a scar.
AHG�s interest in cars began early on in his life when his father, unable to afford a new car, bought a series of second hand vehicles, gave them to his sons with the instruction that they strip them down and rebuild them. He said that he learnt quite a lot about cars that way! During the early 1900s his father installed him and his brother, Leonard in the �Girling Garage� in Woolwich and in 1908 they designed and built the Girling Parcel Carrier. This was used in and around London with a considerable number being exported to Australia. The only restored version of this resides in Queensland Australia.
AHG was interested only in the process of his work not necessarily in the end product and when asked by one of his daughters how he resolved the problems within the braking system he said �I just kept reducing the friction!� He has been described by the Patent Office as a �prolific gatherer of patents�. AHG certainly had a wide interest from cars and tanks to tractors and Venetian blinds and his interest, enthusiasm and almost insatiable curiosity about all things made him an amazing man.
The following text is part of autobiographical notes written by AHG for his family in the latter part of his life. (The family hold the copyright of these and they are not for publication by anyone other than the family.)
�1924 saw me working for the Herbert Frood Company (makers of Ferodo brake linings) as assistant to their London Manager. Earlier I had spent time and money in inventions without commercial success and had decided to cease inventing, but a member of the London staff James Naden had an idea for a replacement brake shoe to improve the stopping power of the model T Ford car. Wishing to help him I suggested he used my workshop to make a trial set. A friend of mine H. J. Buckland director of the Woolwich Motor Service Ltd became interested and arranged for his company to make them. A number were sold and at first the prospect was promising but when the brake shoe linings became worn the action became fierce and the rather weak Ford cam shafts broke off on several occasions. Having caused my friends to spend time and money on the venture I felt obliged to design a safer shoe and had this ready for sale a few months later.�
1925 �By this time T. B. Andre became interested. He was head of T. B. Andre makers of Silent-bloc rubber bushed bearings and Hartford shock absorbers, co-operating with H. G. Buckland they formed the Len Brake Co. Ltd to make and sell the shoe.�
1926 �Sets were sold to car users but the market proved to be rather small because car weights and speeds were not yet high enough to make car drivers anxious to improve the braking of their cars. The shoes were also tried out by a number of vehicle makers in Great Britain and France, but here also the results were disappointing because the need for better braking was not felt acutely enough to compel radical change, and by various detail improvements car makers kept to their own systems. Things changed when increasing weights and speeds made front wheel brakes necessary. They were first fitted to continental racing cars and then the makers of normal cars followed. At first they tried to cope by merely adding the front brakes to the existing rear ones but with little success as the increased complexity involved greater frictional losses and so pedal efforts were increased, this was overcome in some cases by fitting a vacuum servo unit.�
�Things changed when the American Lockheed hydraulic brake was marketed here as a highly efficient system that could be bought ready to fit. The American Bendix followed. This purely mechanical system was inferior to the Lockheed however I could see no basic reason why a mechanical system should be inferior and believed it to be more reliable, so our efforts to improve braking by fitting servo shoes having failed for technical and commercial reasons, I started to design a complete braking arrangement.�
From 1926 to 1928, the basic principles were worked out in an MG car and tested exhaustively. These were then demonstrated to several car makers including Austin, Hillman, Morris, Morris Commercial and others. In 1929 AHG was working for R A Rothermel and he spent some time in the USA at the Ross Steering Gear Company of Lafayette Indiana working on Hupmobile and Cord cars. He left for England after the Wall Street Crash. In 1930 he was working for TB Andre designing and making the V.6. sports car. He also continued work on his braking system with mechanical but no commercial success.
In 1933 Alex Fraser of the New Hudson Cycle Company became interested in the brake and the company secured a contract with Rover. 4600 brakes were made in this year at the New Hudson plant. In 1934 more orders were obtained and the brake was competing with Lockheed and Bendix. In 1936 AHG joined James Pratt and Gilbert Manley, acting as consultants to New Hudson. One of his first jobs was to design four shoe brakes for steering the Vickers Valentine tank.
1937-1938 1939 �By now I had given much thought to disc brakes believing this kind to be the next type likely to be demanded.� Disc brakes were then designed and produced for a considerable amount of military vehicles.
1942 -1943 During the period covered by the above events Bendix had become part of the Lucas Group who found out in due course that their brake was a losing competitor in relation to Lockheed and Girling so they decided to obtain control of the New Hudson Company and accomplished this by 1943. �During World War II the government decided that, because our brakes were indispensable units in so may vehicles needed in the war, that a second or shadow factory must be equipped. This was established in Cwmbran. As soon as possible after the war the Lucas management became centred in the Birmingham works formerly occupied by Bendix.�
�After Lucas gained control I had no desire to work for them preferring to be free lance and this ended my own connection with the Girling Brake.�
In 1943-1944 AHG became ill and underwent major surgery and so followed a period of retirement and recuperation. His friend H.G. Buckland who had had such an influence on his professional and private life, then introduced him to J. Avery a leading maker of Venetian blinds and he became a consultant for them designing production machinery and blinds. During the next twenty years AHG designed some agricultural and horticultural machinery and had a long association with J Potter of Loddon Engineering company.
At the age of 88 in 1969 AHG corresponded with a friend in Australia who rebuilt one of his original parcel carriers. He resurrected original blue prints and together with his brother Sidney in Canada they sent all the appropriate designs to Australia. Unfortunately he died just before the parcel carrier was completed however his great grandson in 1990 was able to visit Australia and actually drive the parcel carrier in a local country show!
AHG died in 1971 at the age of 90.
(Information compiled and kindly contributed by Ms. A. Foster Clark, maternal grand daughter of A.H.G. Girling.)