robert1952:
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
Whoa…Percy Shaw invented cats eyes…a pure bred YORKSHIREMAN 
… 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Shaw
grumpy old man:
robert1952:
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. RobertWhoa…Percy Shaw invented cats eyes…a pure bred YORKSHIREMAN
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Shaw
Yes, silly me: it must have been the Nottinghamshire Percy Shaw who invented the pencil sharpener! Robert 
robert1952:
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!
I always thought that Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler were wandering round the workshop, looking for parts to build a new CI engine when Benz spotted some odds and ends under a bench.
‘Here’ he exclaimed, ‘dese’ll do!’ and hence the new engine was named!
Steve
Henry Royce’s engineering company built industrial gantry cranes. In the early years of the 20th century he bought a car called a Decauville. He thought this car was badly made and unreliable, so he decided to build a better engineered version of it himself, and that was the first Royce car.
Royce was a workaholic perfectionist who expected his staff to be the same. It was common in those days for companies to sack female staff when they married but Royce did the same with male staff.
Charles Rolls was not an engineer or inventor but a wealthy early aviator and motorist. He entered a deal with Royce to sell his cars under the name Rolls-Royce. A few years later Rolls died in a plane crash.
I might as well include Walter “WO” Bentley. He started as a premium apprentice at the Great Northern Railway and later put his skills to use in the aero engine business and is credited as being the first to use aluminium pistons. He built his first Bentley car in 1919 and Bentley Motors thrived for a decade, until the great depression, when his new 8-litre model was exactly what the market didn’t want. Bentley went bankrupt and was bought by Rolls-Royce in 1931. WO worked for Rolls-Royce for a while then moved on to Lagonda. Bentley cars then became nothing more than a badge-engineered Rolls-Royce, with a different grille and badges. This continued right through to the 1990’s, give or take the odd stand-alone model like the R-Type Continental of the 1950’s. The names separated when VW group bought Rolls-Royce Motors from its then owner, Vickers, as rumour has it, without realising the deal hadn’t actually included the right to use the Rolls-Royce name, which still belonged to Rolls-Royce Motors’ original owner, Rolls-Royce PLC (the aero engine maker). They had done a deal with BMW giving them the right to use the name, but nothing else - so BMW started their Rolls-Royce brand from scratch. VW group use just the Bentley name for the products of the Crewe factory.
Incidentally, a fact probably almost forgotten to history is that in the 1980’s, Rolls-Royce Motors made a takeover bid for Foden. I think this was at the time when Rolls-Royce Motors was an independent company - after it had been hived off from the aero engine maker and before it was taken over by Vickers. This Foden bid was at the height of the popularity of RR Diesel Division’s Eagle range of heavy lorry engines and so would have made sense.
Caffeine:
Henry Royce’s engineering company built industrial gantry cranes. In the early years of the 20th century he bought a car called a Decauville. He thought this car was badly made and unreliable, so he decided to build a better engineered version of it himself, and that was the first Royce car.Royce was a workaholic perfectionist who expected his staff to be the same. It was common in those days for companies to sack female staff when they married but Royce did the same with male staff.
Charles Rolls was not an engineer or inventor but a wealthy early aviator and motorist. He entered a deal with Royce to sell his cars under the name Rolls-Royce. A few years later Rolls died in a plane crash.
I might as well include Walter “WO” Bentley. He started as a premium apprentice at the Great Northern Railway and later put his skills to use in the aero engine business and is credited as being the first to use aluminium pistons. He built his first Bentley car in 1919 and Bentley Motors thrived for a decade, until the great depression, when his new 8-litre model was exactly what the market didn’t want. Bentley went bankrupt and was bought by Rolls-Royce in 1931. WO worked for Rolls-Royce for a while then moved on to Lagonda. Bentley cars then became nothing more than a badge-engineered Rolls-Royce, with a different grille and badges. This continued right through to the 1990’s, give or take the odd stand-alone model like the R-Type Continental of the 1950’s. The names separated when VW group bought Rolls-Royce Motors from its then owner, Vickers, as rumour has it, without realising the deal hadn’t actually included the right to use the Rolls-Royce name, which still belonged to Rolls-Royce Motors’ original owner, Rolls-Royce PLC (the aero engine maker). They had done a deal with BMW giving them the right to use the name, but nothing else - so BMW started their Rolls-Royce brand from scratch. VW group use just the Bentley name for the products of the Crewe factory.
Incidentally, a fact probably almost forgotten to history is that in the 1980’s, Rolls-Royce Motors made a takeover bid for Foden. I think this was at the time when Rolls-Royce Motors was an independent company - after it had been hived off from the aero engine maker and before it was taken over by Vickers. This Foden bid was at the height of the popularity of RR Diesel Division’s Eagle range of heavy lorry engines and so would have made sense.
hiya a quick one for bikers and drivers Mike Hailwoods dad worked at Fodens before working at Kings of Oxford to which he eventually owned…how can people get that rich…in the 50,s he was the richest man in brittian…working at Fodens and selling bikes■■?
Caffeine:
Incidentally, a fact probably almost forgotten to history is that in the 1980’s, Rolls-Royce Motors made a takeover bid for Foden. I think this was at the time when Rolls-Royce Motors was an independent company - after it had been hived off from the aero engine maker and before it was taken over by Vickers. This Foden bid was at the height of the popularity of RR Diesel Division’s Eagle range of heavy lorry engines and so would have made sense.
Now that would’ve been interesting: imagine the rumble of Rolls Royce Eagle 305s as Foden XL-cabbed units came off the production line with ROLLS ROYCE emblazoned across the front grille. 
Robert
robert1952:
Caffeine:
Incidentally, a fact probably almost forgotten to history is that in the 1980’s, Rolls-Royce Motors made a takeover bid for Foden. I think this was at the time when Rolls-Royce Motors was an independent company - after it had been hived off from the aero engine maker and before it was taken over by Vickers. This Foden bid was at the height of the popularity of RR Diesel Division’s Eagle range of heavy lorry engines and so would have made sense.Now that would’ve been interesting: imagine the rumble of Rolls Royce Eagle 305s as Foden XL-cabbed units came off the production line with ROLLS ROYCE emblazoned across the front grille.
Except I would imagine that Foden would have retained their identity within RR. As it turned out RR sold their diesel engine division to Perkins a few years later. I found this on the Foden takeover bid - which was a bit earlier than I said - in 1977 rather than the 1980’s … archive.commercialmotor.com/arti … -for-foden
The article says Foden would form ‘a significant fourth element to the group’. The other 3 elements to Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd. (As distinct from Rolls-Royce (1971) jet engine maker, that was then still state-owned) at the time were the Car Division, Diesel Division and Continental, which made piston engines for light aircraft.
The article also says RR had a 17% shareholding in Gardner at the time - I never knew that!
Lawrence Dunbar:
A Symbal of Lewis Gardners Quality Product, Regards Larry.0
If the lettering cost £83 and the wooden plaque cost £17 you could claim the plaque was owned by Rolls Royce! Robert
robert1952:
Lawrence Dunbar:
A Symbal of Lewis Gardners Quality Product, Regards Larry.0If the lettering cost £83 and the wooden plaque cost £17 you could claim the plaque was owned by Rolls Royce!
Well the trueth is I was given the 150 Badge by The Foden Rep at Earls Court motor show in 1976, The plaque I made myself from a piece of plywood which I stained with Ronseal Rosewood that was left over from another one of my DIY projects, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
robert1952:
Lawrence Dunbar:
A Symbal of Lewis Gardners Quality Product, Regards Larry.0If the lettering cost £83 and the wooden plaque cost £17 you could claim the plaque was owned by Rolls Royce!
Well the trueth is I was given the 150 Badge by The Foden Rep at Earls Court motor show in 1976, The plaque I made myself from a piece of plywood which I stained with Ronseal Rosewood that was left over from another one of my DIY projects, Regards Larry.
A fine momento of a lost era, nicely presented, of which you should be rightly proud! Robert
robert1952:
Lawrence Dunbar:
robert1952:
Lawrence Dunbar:
A Symbal of Lewis Gardners Quality Product, Regards Larry.0If the lettering cost £83 and the wooden plaque cost £17 you could claim the plaque was owned by Rolls Royce!
Well the trueth is I was given the 150 Badge by The Foden Rep at Earls Court motor show in 1976, The plaque I made myself from a piece of plywood which I stained with Ronseal Rosewood that was left over from another one of my DIY projects, Regards Larry.
A fine momento of a lost era, nicely presented, of which you should be rightly proud! Robert
Than you, Regards Larry.
Gerald Broadbent designed the ERF LV cab when he worked for Jennings before inventing the Bowyer tautliner
We would have been buggered without Robert Thompsons famous invention too
Two important discoveries which are fundamental to vehicles are the differential gear, patented in 1827 by Onesiphore Pecqueur and the principle of Ackermann steering invented in 1817 by Georg Lankensperger, but patented by Robert Ackermann; hence the name.
The invention of differential gearing is disputed; there being many claims including Leonardo da Vinci, although it seems that the ancient Chinese are possibly the most worthy.
cav551:
Two important discoveries which are fundamental to vehicles are the differential gear, patented in 1827 by Onesiphore Pecqueur and the principle of Ackermann steering invented in 1817 by Georg Lankensperger, but patented by Robert Ackermann; hence the name.The invention of differential gearing is disputed; there being many claims including Leonardo da Vinci, although it seems that the ancient Chinese are possibly the most worthy.
Good Grief when did you find this info, Its mind blowing in my old book, Da.Vinci was a great artist in his heyday no doubt, So whats next please, Regards Larry.
