DISRAELI GEARS
Resilion was founded in 1927 in London to produce a tough rubber saddle top made of a material called, you guessed it, ‘Resilion’. In 1929 it introduced its famous bolt-on cantilever brakes, arguably the most effective light weight brakes of the time and much loved by British tandem users well into the 1960s.
Despite introducing aluminium versions of their brake in 1948, Resilion were losing sales during the early 1950s as cheaper, simpler, lighter caliper brakes became more effective. In 1954 the company was acquired by Phillips Cycles and moved from London to Smethwick in Birmingham.
I think that Phillips wanted to develop Resilion as a specialist ‘lightweight’ component brand offering many different types of component. It certainly rebranded its existing ‘Phillips’ derailleurs as ‘Resilion’. The patent for the design of the Resilion Crimson Star derailleur lists Edward Arthur Millward as the inventor - just as for the 1949 Phillips derailleur patent.
I believe that the Resilion Crimson Star was produced into the 1960s, but after that Resilion, now part of the Raleigh operation, gave up manufacturing derailleurs.
see also UK Patent # 664,186 - Phillips 1949
see also UK Patent # 664,186 - Phillips 1949
see also Holdsworth - Aids to Happy Cycling 1949
see also Holdsworth - Aids to Happy Cycling 1949
see also UK Patent # 750,110 - Phillips 1953
see also UK Patent # 750,110 - Phillips 1953
see also Insist on a Phillips Derailleur Gear 1953
see also Insist on a Phillips Derailleur Gear 1953
see also Phillips Range of Bicycles & Tricycles - 1953
see also Phillips Range of Bicycles & Tricycles - 1953
see also Le Cycle 12/1954 - image of Phillips
see also Le Cycle 12/1954 - image of Phillips
see also Phillips - catalogue 1954?
see also Phillips - catalogue 1954?
see also UK Patent # 818,266 - Resilion 1956
see also UK Patent # 818,266 - Resilion 1956
see also UK Patent # 861,607 - Resilion 1957
see also UK Patent # 861,607 - Resilion 1957
see also Phillips - catalogue 1957?
see also Phillips - catalogue 1957?
see also Le Cycle 12/1958 - image of Resilion Crimson Star
see also Le Cycle 12/1958 - image of Resilion Crimson Star
see also The CTC Gazette 1958 - Phillips ad
see also The CTC Gazette 1958 - Phillips ad
see also The CTC Gazette 1959 - Resilion ad
see also The CTC Gazette 1959 - Resilion ad
see also Priory Tea I-Spy card - Derailleur Gear 1959?
see also Priory Tea I-Spy card - Derailleur Gear 1959?
see also H. H. England - Cycling Manual 1960
see also H. H. England - Cycling Manual 1960
