 Companies engaged in war work still worked on new models anticipating the end of the war, with Villiers applying for 16 engine-related patents during the war.One particular issue was a generic problem – the fact that before the war most engines relied on German-made magnetos for ignition, which caused a major issue during the war.In January 1917 Villiers patented their solution to this problem – the flywheel-magneto, which became a standard feature of their engines.