I have a late 30's Rudge whitworth roadster that is missing a couple of pieces. I have seen the pieces for sale but my question is did the brand produce the components? And if not, who were the players? I would like to get pieces (front brake lower pieces are needed) that match the ones on the rear. Thanks in advance.

You'd find brand markings on high end stuff, but at the lower end of the line, components were more or less generic. In the case of bigger manufacturers, such as Raleigh, Phillips, Hercules, things like hubs and cranks and brakes came out of factories belonging to the same companies as made the frames but even so, they aren't marked. In the case of the smaller manufacturers, it's really hard to tell, since the same parts are unmarked.

When was Rudge taken over by Raleigh? I suspect your Rudge may be a Raleigh product, in which case almost everything on it was made by Raleigh. You may see the words "Raleigh Industries" or "Nottingham" on them; or maybe a tiny little picture of Sir Walter Raleigh stamped into the crank or something.

I can tell you that my Norman tourist model, ca 1950, has a few "name brand" components on it. Rims by Dunlop, 3-sp hub by Sturmey Archer, front hub by Phillips, headset by Brampton, BB by Bayliss-Wiley, seat by Wrights, kickstand by Shuresta, BB oiler by Garland. Brakes, stem, handlebar, seatpost etc. all have no brand markings. There is no indication who made the crankset, which has Norman soldiers on it-- so certainly it was made for Norman, and perhaps by Norman.

The Norman marketing brochures etc of the same period show these same components with the Norman name engraved on them; but that doesn't mean Norman made them. For example, the higher end Normans used Phillips pedals; the 1950 brochure shows the same pedal with the words "Norman of England" engraved on it. But the actual pedal doesn't say either Phillips or Norman.