Editing Birmingham Small Arms Company (section)

===New ventures===

====Bicycles====

The next year, 1880, BSA branched out into bicycle manufacture.<ref name="Davenport-Hines, R. P. T. 2002 p. 48"/> The gun factory proved remarkably adaptable to the manufacture of cycle parts. What cycles needed was large quantities of standard parts accurately machined at low prices.<ref name=WBSVCH/> In 1880, BSA manufactured the [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otto_Dicycle.jpg Otto Dicycle]. In the 1880s, the company began to manufacture [[safety bicycle]]s on their own account and not until 1905 was the company's first experimental [[motorcycle]] constructed. Bicycle production ceased in 1887 as the company concentrated on producing the [[Lee–Metford]] magazine-loading rifle for the War Office which was re-equipping the British Army with it. The order was for 1,200 rifles per week. BSA recommenced manufacturing bicycles on their own behalf from 1908. BSA Cycles Ltd was set up in 1919 for the manufacture of both bicycles and motorcycles. BSA sold the bicycle business to [[Raleigh Bicycle Company|Raleigh]] in 1957 after separating the bicycle and motorcycle business in 1953.

====Bicycle components====
In 1893, BSA commenced making bicycle hubs<ref name="Ryerson Barry 1980"/> and continued to supply the cycle trade with bicycle parts up to 1936. BSA bought [[Royal Enfield#history|The Eadie Manufacturing Company]] of Redditch in 1907 and so began to manufacture the Eadie two speed hub gear and the Eadie [[coaster brake]] hub. BSA also signed an agreement with the Three Speed Gear Syndicate in 1907 to manufacture a 3 speed hub under licence. This was later classified as the [[Sturmey Archer]] Type X. BSA introduced a 'Duo' hub in the late 1930s which was capable of one fixed gear and one gear with a freewheel. All BSA hub gear production temporarily ceased in 1939, until they recommenced making their 3 speed hub around 1945. The Eadie coaster hub made a brief return in 1953 on two BSA bicycle models. BSA forever ceased production of their hub gears in 1955.

====Ammunition====
BSA sold its ammunition business in 1897 to Birmingham Metal and Munitions Company Limited part of the Nobel-Dynamite Trust, through [[Kynoch]] a forerunner of [[Imperial Chemical Industries|ICI]].<ref>Ryerson, Barry (1980). ''The Giants of Small Heath: The History of BSA''. Sparkford: Haynes. p. 16. {{ISBN|0-85429-255-1}}</ref>

====Sparkbrook Royal Small Arms Factory====
In 1906, [[Dudley Docker|Frank Dudley Docker]] was appointed a director of the company. By the autumn of that year BSA was in some difficulty. They had purchased the [[Sparkbrook]] [[Royal Small Arms Factory]] from the War Office, and in return, the War Office undertook to give BSA a quarter of all orders for Lee–Enfield rifles. But, the War Office did not honour their undertaking.<ref>Davenport-Hines, R. P. T. (2002). ''Dudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade Warrior''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 49. {{ISBN|0-521-89400-X}}</ref> The ensuing financial crisis did not prevent BSA from signing an agreement to purchase control of bicycle component manufacturer, the Eadie Manufacturing Company of [[Redditch]], on 11 February 1907. That decision was ratified by the shareholders of both companies at separate Extraordinary General Meetings held in the Grand Hotel, Birmingham on 27 February 1907. Albert Eadie became a BSA director, a post he held until his death in 1931.<ref name="Ryerson Barry 1980"/>

====Sporting firearms====
The very variable military market was now supported by sales of target military rifles, sporting rifles, various patterns of miniature rifles and air rifles. Aperture sights were in demand for [[National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom|Bisley]] and other military rifle meetings.<ref>Birmingham Small Arms Company (Limited). ''The Times'', Thursday, 5 October 1911; p. 15; Issue 39708</ref>

====Motorcycles====
Motor bicycles were added to bicycle products in 1910. The BSA {{frac|3|1|2}} hp was exhibited at the 1910 Olympia Show, London for the 1911 season. The entire BSA production sold out in 1911, 1912 and 1913.<ref name="Ryerson Barry 1980"/>

=====BSA cars=====

{{Main|BSA cars}}

In an effort to make use of the Sparkbrook factory BSA established a motorcar department there. An independent part of it was occupied by [[Lanchester Motor Company]]. The first prototype automobile was produced in 1907. The following year, marketed under BSA Cycles Ltd, the company sold 150 automobiles and again began producing complete bicycles on its own account. By 1909, it was clear the new motorcar department was unsuccessful; an investigation committee reported to the BSA Board on the many failures of its management and their poor organisation of production.

=====Daimler cars and trucks=====
{{Main|Daimler Company}}

Dudley Docker had joined the board in 1906 and was appointed deputy chairman of BSA in 1909. He had made a spectacular financial success of a merger of five large rolling-stock companies in 1902 and become the leader of the period's merger movement. Believing he could buy the missing management skills that could not be found within BSA, he started merger talks with [[Daimler Company|The Daimler Company Limited]] of Coventry. Daimler and Rover were then the largest British car producers. Daimler was immensely profitable. After its capital reconstruction in 1904, Daimler's profits were 57 per cent and 150 per cent returns on invested capital in 1905 and 1906. The attraction for Daimler shareholders was the apparent stability of BSA.<ref>Davenport-Hines, R. P. T. (2002). ''Dudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade Warrior''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 49–50. {{ISBN|0-521-89400-X}}</ref>

[[File:Daimler DK400 RSP5533b.jpg|thumb|1957 Daimler DK400 limousine]]
So in 1910, BSA purchased Daimler with BSA shares but Docker who negotiated the arrangements either ignored or failed in his assessment of their consequences for the new combine. The combine was never adequately balanced or co-ordinated. One of the financial provisions obliged Daimler to pay BSA an annual dividend of £100,000 representing approximately 40 per cent of the actual cash BSA had put into Daimler. This financial burden deprived Daimler of badly needed cash to fund development, forcing the Daimler company to borrow money from the [[Midland Bank]].<ref>Davenport-Hines, R. P. T. (2002). ''Dudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade Warrior''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 51. {{ISBN|0-521-89400-X}}</ref>

BSA had still not recovered financially from the earlier purchase of Royal Small Arms factory at Sparkbrook and BSA were not in a position to finance Daimler, nor had either company ample liquid resources. BSA went ahead with motorcycle production in 1910, their first model available for the 1911 season. In 1913, the BSA group were compelled through pressure from the Midland Bank to make a capital issue of 300,000 preference shares. In the short term this was to solve the liquidity issue but further diluted the group's capitalisation.<ref>Davenport-Hines, R. P. T. (2002). ''Dudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade Warrior''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 50–52. {{ISBN|0-521-89400-X}}</ref>

Dudley Docker retired as a BSA director in 1912 and installed Lincoln Chandler on the BSA board as his replacement. Dudley Docker liked to draw a comparison between the BSA–Daimler merger he engineered and that of his 1902 merger of [[Metro-Cammell|Metropolitan Carriage Wagon & Finance Company]] and [[Patent Shaft]]. However, there was not the integration of facilities in the BSA–Daimler case, nor was there a reorganisation of either BSA or Daimler and in view of the earlier criticism contained in the 1909 report of the investigation committee, BSA continued to produce cars of their own using Daimler engines. In 1913, Daimler employed 5,000 workers to manufacture 1,000 vehicles, an indication that things were not well.<ref>Davenport-Hines, R. P. T. (2002). ''Dudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade Warrior''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 52. {{ISBN|0-521-89400-X}}</ref>

=====Steel bodies=====
In 1912, BSA would be one of two automobile manufacturers pioneering the use of all-steel bodies, joining [[Hupmobile]] in the US.<ref name="Csere1988p63">{{Citation | last = Csere | first = Csaba | author-link = Csaba Csere |date=January 1988 | title = 10 Best Engineering Breakthroughs | work = Car and Driver | volume = 33 | issue = 7 }}, p. 63.</ref>

====Lewis Automatic Machine Gun====
[[File:Lewis MG ( tanyacameron).jpg|thumb|[[Lewis gun]]]]
In 1913, BSA undertook to manufacture [[Lewis gun|quick-firing machine gun]]s for the Lewis Automatic Arms Company whose rights covered the world except for the American Continent.<ref>Company Meetings. ''The Times'', Thursday, 9 October 1913; p. 17; Issue 40338.</ref>