Great pictures Tony!
I have no idea if there was more than one V-4 Douglas engine made but great observation Leon! Definitely a different inlet manifold setup on the Douglas V-4 of recent times to the original Stanley show exhibit version – maybe the original inlet stubs on the atmospheric valve been modified for a new inlet manifold at a later date or is it a later design revision? Hard to say as the original pictures are very grainy unfortunately.
Found this question and answer from The Motor Cycle April 24 1907. It seems to imply that to the knowledge of the person answering the question there were no V-4 engine motorcycles being manufactured when the question was asked (albeit the question was about a larger engine than the one fitted to the Douglas – implying the engine in question was maybe for something bigger than a motorcycle)? Does this comment tend to support the suggestion that the Douglas V-4 might be the first applications of this type of engine in a motorcycle? I don’t know. I looked up the V8 made by Adams Manufacturing & Co. It is one of the very early applications of a V-8 in an automobile in the UK. It does not appear at first glance to have much to do with the Douglas V-4. Picture of the V8 here;
https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:Im061201MN-Adams2.jpgI wonder whom “P.C.” of South Devon is? Coincidental question or somehow related to the appearance of the Douglas V-4 at the Stanley show later in the year? I think this may all be a bit of a Furphy and have nothing to do with the Douglas V-4 but information appears to be quite scarce and I'm scratching for anything at all !! :-)
Also attached is a little extra bit of information from The Motor Cycle December 11,1907 about the Douglas V-4.
The later V-4 of Saville Whiting comes to mind as an early V-4 motorcycle from this period, but I have not come across much else but will keep looking…….
EDIT:- How would the author of the report on the V-4 Douglas at the Stanley Motor Show know what the crankshaft looked like? Maybe there was a disassembled engine or maybe some engine parts on display as well? No idea.
EDIT:- "P.C." of South Devon - the electronic copy of the magazine has cut off the text, most likely due to the binding. Does anyone have an original copy that might have show a word before "P.C." ?
Cheers
Hutch