Maruishi Fender Ornament (Kangaroo) Part 3

次回この記事の日本語版を投稿します。

In the previous post Maruishi Fender Ornament （Kangaroo）Part 2 we continued to examine my theory that the origin of the kangaroo trademark used by Maruishi dates back to 1884 when Hillman Herbert & Cooper, a company in Coventry England, made a dwarf ordinary and named it the Kangaroo.  In 1892 the company changed its name to Premier Cycle Co. Ltd., but retained the kangaroo as its logo.  And, we examined two Premier Cycle guarantee medals; each bearing a kangaroo trademark, the first manufactured by A.J.C. Mfg. Co., and the second by Maruishi Co.  What was A.J.C. Mfg. Co. ?  What does A.J.C. stand for and how was it related to Maruishi Co.?  I found the answers in a photo book published 95 years ago, back in 1926.  

A.J.C. stands for The Anglo-Japanese Cycle Mfg, Co., Ltd.
(日英自轉車製造株式會社）
Premier Cycle had been exporting bicycles to Japan since 1912.
In 1920 it established The Anglo-Japanese Cycle Mfg., Co., Ltd., as a local manufacturing base in Japan. 

The company was located in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture with a complex occupying over 4,200 square meters.


Note the use of horse drawn wagons to transport goods.

In 1920 the factory employed around 350 employees.
Annual production of 5,000 motorcycles and 35,000 bicylces.

Premier model bicycles (1926)


Thus, A.J.C manufactured the Premier model bicycles while Maruishi Shokai (Maruishi Co.) served as its distributor.

Thanks to the information contained in the photo book, it proves my theory that the origin of the kangaroo trademark used by Maruishi dates back to 1884 when Hillman Herbert & Cooper, a company in Coventry England, made a dwarf ordinary and named it the Kangaroo.