Hardy Spicer is a brand of automotive transmission or driveline equipment best known for its mechanical constant velocity universal joint originally manufactured in Britain by Hardy employing patents belonging to US-based Spicer Manufacturing. Hardy and Spicer soon became partners. Later Spicer became Dana Holding Corporation.
Since the commercial success of front wheel drive cars began in the 1960s the industry manufacturing universal joints has grown enormously.
The Hardy Spicer and Laycock Engineering group of businesses, later known as Birfield, have been part of the GKN Driveline group since 1966.
History
Ed. J Hardy Limited was founded and later formed into a limited liability company by Birmingham-born cycle-parts manufacturer Edward John Hardy (1874–1950) in 1903 to import components for British motor manufacturers from France. The French industry was then dominant.
Bearings
Bound Brook Bearings of Bound Brook, New Jersey sold to Ed J Hardy and Company in 1922 the rights to manufacture their oil-less bearings and oil retaining bearings and sell them in Europe and the British Empire.
Flexible coupling
Just before the first World War Hardy designed, patented and made a flexible laminated fabric and rubber coupling which soon became standard on British cars and trucks. A licence to manufacture the Hardy flexible coupling in USA was granted to the Thermoid Rubber Company.
Mechanical universal joint
More powerful engines and higher speeds required a mechanical universal joint. In USA, already with a link to Thermoid, Hardy established a contact with Spicer Manufacturing Corporation of Toledo, Ohio. Spicer took a share of Ed. J Hardy Limited in exchange for British patent rights and all engineering data of the Spicer mechanical joint and in 1926 the name of Ed. J Hardy & Co was changed to Hardy, Spicer and Co Limited.
Constant velocity joints
Herbert Hill pushed his team to make continuous improvements to the basic Rzeppa constant velocity joint and was rewarded in the 1960s when much of the world's motor industry switched to front wheel drive using Birfield joints, the CV joints now made by GKN Driveline and currently installed in more than one-third of all new cars worldwide.
Notable improvements to the original Rzeppa design have been the elimination of the need for a splined coupling and Birfield's modifications to the ball grooves and their track-steered ball cage introduced with BMC's Minis in 1959.
GKN Driveline
In 1966 Guest Keen & Nettlefold seeing advantage in amalgamating with its local competition and wanting to pre-empt an expected bid from USA's TRW Inc. bought Birfield the sole UK supplier of CVJs.
As GKN Driveline its constant velocity joints take near 50 per cent of the world market and Driveline employs about 22,000 people at 46 locations across 23 countries.