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Birmingham transport history

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Birmingham's earliest roots of transport manufacture lie in the Industrial Revolution with Lunar Society members like Matthew Boulton who was proprietor of the Soho engineering works and James Watt who made the steam engine into the power plant of the Industrial Revolution, the term "horsepower" was first coined by Watt in the city. In 1770 the screw propellor was first connected to an engine by Watt in Brum. 1785 saw the invention of the oscillating cylinder by William Murdoch. Watt and Boulton, furnished engines (in 1807) for the first regular steam picket in America with James Watt, jun., making the first steam voyage on the sea (October 14, 1817), crossing the British Channel in the Caledonia ship, and taking that vessel up the Rhine.

It could be argued that Watts aplication of the screw propellor to the steam engine inevitably led to power the first aeroplanes.

Frederick William Lanchester who was arguably the single most innovative automobile developer in the UK joined the Forward Gas Engine Company of Birmingham in 1889, he patented disc brakes in 1902 (even though his innovation was only widely adopted over half a century later). In 1893 he set up his own workshop. Amazingly in 1895 he and his brother built the first petrol driven four-wheeled car in Britain although the engine was underpowered compared to the weight of the six seater body. Fred also experimented with the wick carburetor, fuel injection, turbochargers and invented the accelerator pedal as well as the Pendulum Governor which was used to controll the speed of an engine. In 1893 Fred designed and built his first engine (a vertical single cylinder) which was fitted to a flat bottomed boat designed by his brothers. The boat was launched at Salter's slipway in Oxford in 1894 and was the first all British powerboat.

In the 1800's Birminghams motor manufacturers grew out of the City's Steam Power heritage and the many Bicycle manufacturers.

Herbert Austin worked for the Wolesely car company in Birmingham and in 1905 he resigned, taking a bycicle ride around the city he ended up at an old print works in Longbridge where he decided to start the Austin car company.

In 1921, the first British patent for windscreen wipers was registered by Mills Munitions of Birmingham.

Prominent Birmingham motor manufacturers of days gone include:

Present day motor manufacturers include: LDV vans, MG Rover Group, Lucas Aerospace, Jaguar a UK branch of Alstom trains, National Express coach services with Land Rover at nearby Solihull.

The N.E.C. hosts the two most innovative UK specialist small car manufacturer exhibitions annualy.

In the First and Second World Wars, the Longbridge car plant built everything imaginable from ammunition to tank suspensions, steel helmets, Jerricans, Hawker Hurricanes, Fairey Battle fighters, Horsa Gliders, mines and depth charges, with the mammoth Avro Lancaster bomber coming into production towards the end of WWII. The Spitfire fighter aircraft was mass produced for the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain, at Castle Bromwich. It has been argued by some that Britain may have lost the second world war had it not been for Birmingham's massive industrial might.

Longbridge has played a vital role in Birmingham and the wider conurbation's employment since the invention of the aeroplane.

Transport-history related links

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