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108 makers, however, were not to have everything their own way, for in 1903, a London maker, named J. A. Prestwich, put on the British market a light engine of 28 lbs. which very soon leapt to the front, and was the precursor of the popular J.A.P. engines of to-day. Heavier types of engine were fitted to Excelsiors, and gradually the trade increased. Between 1905 and 1907 the demand for motor cycles showed signs of a slump;



cycle makers, one after the other, gave up making motor bicycles, but the Bat, Triumph, Quadrant, Rex, J.A.P., and many others, stuck to their guns and despite the vagaries of battery ignition, unsuitable tyres, and other troubles, they were eventually rewarded for their faith in the machine. The arrival of the high tension magneto solved the trouble of accumulator batteries, and firms who were fortunate or sufficiently long sighted to obtain delivery of these machines from Germany, hardly ever looked back. Engines increased in size and power, two and four-cyclindercylinder [sic] engines were introduced, the latter from BelguimBelgium [sic], and very soon practically every