In a frequent way several inventions cross threads over here. What is behind the names of known engineers
like Robert Bosch, George Westinghouse, Magnus Hendrickson, Joseph Eaton, Frank and Charles Fuller, Dave
Ross, Clarence Spicer, Charles Dana, Sir Alfred Owen, Frank Perkins, Lawrence Gardner, Clessie ■■■■■■■■
Joseph Lucas, Charles Rolls, Henry Royce, Malcom Lougheed (Lockheed), James Allison, Franz Lang (Lanova),
George Chalender (Buda), Jakob Eberspächer to mention some great men enabling we HAVE transportation?
Pictures, memories, stories, drawings etc are wellcome
Edwin Foden, Sydney Guy, Oliver North - Scammell, George Rackham- AEC & Leyland, Henry Spurrier- Leyland, Walter Wilson - Self Changing Gears, Tony Vandervell -engine bearings.
And who invented the spring brake that revolutionised artic driving? Robert
Then there are cat’s-eyes! The Nottinghamshire man who invented cat’s-eyes was inspired by the appearance of a cat in the middle of the road when he was driving home one misty night. If the cat had been facing the other way, he would have invented the pencil-sharpener instead. Robert
One name missing from the “roll of honour” is Gerald Broadbent the designer of the Bo-Alloy Tautliner many others copied his creation but Tautliner was the origional and best body IMHO.Bewick.
Sorry Robert1952 but it was Percy Shaw from near Halifax who invented cats eyes.
You have all missed the main man - Herr Rudolf Diesel.
Walton man:
Sorry Robert1952 but it was Percy Shaw from near Halifax who invented cats eyes.
You have all missed the main man - Herr Rudolf Diesel.
I stand corrected on Halifax! But I believe the ‘diesel’ engine was invented by an Englishman, Ackroyd Stuart some years earlier than Rudolf! 
Robert
robert1952:
I stand corrected on Halifax! But I believe the ‘diesel’ engine was invented by an Englishman, Ackroyd Stuart some years earlier than Rudolf! Robert
It’s a bit more complicated than that.Technically the Stuart motor isn’t a CI engine as we know it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_bulb_engine
ohio.edu/mechanical/thermo/I … ter3c.html
hiya i like the Norman Smith invention…the rumble strips on the slower lane on motorways, they have saved some lives.
john
Wow, good input and posts while I was away because of a birthday.
The founder of the Diesel is a bit tricky however Rudolf Diesel was in fact a Frenchman!
Let’s proceed this way and make it a valid and nice thread.
Didn’t he use coal dust first?
FodenS80:
Didn’t he use coal dust first?
Ah! Hello again FodenS80. Thank you for answering my question about spring brakes on a parallel thread! You say MGM invented them in 1956. Excellent: presumably MGM developed the George Westinghouse (US) railway air brake technology.
ERF were the first UK manufacturer to standardise using spring brakes in 1966! Robert 
Joseph Whitworth,the Whitworth thread Engineer and entrepreneur,Nikola Tesla,Electrical Engineer extraordinaire!!!
David
But who remembers old Joe Whitworth now we have to use those damned foreign metrical things?
Retired Old ■■■■:
But who remembers old Joe Whitworth now we have to use those damned foreign metrical things?
I remember him daily ROF, my missus is currently in the local hospital named after him and the Whitworth Centre he bequeathed is just along the A6!!! 
Pete.
Retired Old ■■■■:
But who remembers old Joe Whitworth now we have to use those damned foreign metrical things?
Hi ROF, My son still has some of old Joes spanners & sockets in his tool box, We needed them when we had Gardner Powered Fodens, Long gone now Im afraid, But the gear stays in the box, Regards Larry.
Good to hear he’s not completely forgotten. I started my working life throwing Joe’s spanners around!
Retired Old ■■■■:
Good to hear he’s not completely forgotten. I started my working life throwing Joe’s spanners around!
Aye! sounds like a “Bear with a coconut who lived in a forest” 
Anon 1.
all those spanners and thingys , i have a far superior invention which is the riser/ recliner armchair in which i while the hours away while the youth of the industry make generous contributions to my pension . dave
I do love the electric recliner, Dave. Trouble is, it’s far too easy to fall into the arms of Morpheus after lunch!
I also have to admit that my greatest hero is I.K.Brunel, with Trevithick and Watt running a close joint second. And a bit later, John I. Thorneycroft who raced ahead with his superb oil engines when others were still wondering whether to go for steam or petrol.