Бирмингем: Колыбель промышленной революции и инноваций.

Birmingham is one of England's principal industrial centres and has a history of industrial and scientific innovation. It was once known as 'city of a thousand trades' and in 1791, Arthur Young (the writer and commentator on British economic life) described Birmingham as "the first manufacturing town in the world". Right up until the mid 19th century Birmingham was regarded as the prime industrial urban town in Britain and perhaps the world, the town's rivals were more specific in their trade bases. Mills and foundries across the world were helped along by the advances in steam power and engineering that were taking place in the city. The town offered a vast array of industries and was the world's leading manufacturer of metal ware, although this was by no means the only trade flourishing in the town. While the time line of industry and innovation listed below is extensive, it is by no means a comprehensive list of Birmingham's industrial and scientific achievements, more a guide to highlight the great diversity in the city's industrial might, which can still be seen today.

1802: The exterior of the Soho Foundry is lit with gas lighting by William Murdoch. Murdoch, its developer, worked for Matthew Boulton and James Watt at Soho. This becomes the basis for Birmingham's immense gas industry, which incorporates many products and trades that rely on gas to work. 1811: Henry James takes out a patent for propelling vessels by steam, via a paddle wheel fixed in the middle of the stern and steered by two fins to relieve leggers from the arduous duty of pushing boats through canal tunnels. 1814: Thomas Dobbs (actor) invents a reaping machine, which consists of a circular saw or sickle; the grain is drawn or fed up to the saw by means of a pair of rollers. This predates William Bell's straw cutting machine. 1821: Emanuel Heaton, gun finisher, takes out a patent for a watertight pan for gun locks. 1823: Francis Deakin improves a method of stringing the piano by employing the screw and nut as opposed to the previously used wooden peg, thus allowing a greater tension and strength of wire. 1824: American inventor William Church patents a printing machine in his Birmingham works, which positions the paper sheets more accurately. He is a prolific inventor, taking out numerous patents for methods of button making, nail making, metal working, smelting iron, spinning and other branches of engineering. 1824: John Cadbury begins selling tea, coffee, and drinking chocolate, which he produces himself, at Bull Street. He later moves into the production of a variety of cocoa and drinking chocolates, made in a factory in Bridge Street and sold mainly to the wealthy because of the high cost of production. John Cadbury becomes a partner with his brother Benjamin and the company they form is called 'Cadbury Brothers of Birmingham'. The brothers open an office in London and in 1854 they receive the royal warrant as manufacturers of chocolate and cocoa to Queen Victoria. In the 1850s the industry receives a much needed boost, with the reduction in the high import taxes on cocoa, allowing chocolate to be more affordable to everybody. Cadbury's later becomes one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world and is still in production across the world today with a major production plant in Bournville. 1828: Josiah Mason improves a cheap, efficient slip in nib that can be added to a fountain pen. 1830: With the invention of a new machine, William Joseph Gillott, John Mitchell and James Stephen Perry devise a way to mass produce robust, cheap steel pen nibs. This boosts the Birmingham pen trade and by the 1850s, Birmingham exists as a world centre for steel pen and steel nib manufacture; more than half the steel nib pens manufactured in the world are made in Birmingham. Thousands of skilled craftsmen and women are employed in the industry. Many new manufacturing techniques are perfected, enabling the city's factories to mass produce their pens cheaply and efficiently. These are sold worldwide to many who previously cannot afford to write, thus encouraging the development of education and literacy. 1830s: Thomas Ridgway begins trading in the Bull Ring, selling tea. Ridgway later goes bankrupt. Setting up business in London, he pays back all of his creditors and continues his tea trade, becoming one of the first English tea companies to hygienically prepack tea so as to avoid adulteration. In 1876, Queen Victoria commands House of Ridgways to create a blend for her own personal use. 1832: Muntz metal is patented, an alpha beta brass with about 40% zinc and 60% copper. Its original use is as a replacement for the copper lining placed on the bottom of boats as it maintains the anti fouling abilities of the pure form. It costs around two thirds that of pure copper and has identical properties for this application, it becomes the material of choice and Muntz makes his fortune. A notable use of Muntz Metal is in the hull of the Cutty Sark. 1832: William Chance, owner of a Birmingham iron merchants, invests in his brothers failing glass works in nearby Smethwick. After saving the company, this partnership later becomes the Chance Brothers. The company relies on local workers, and at one stage is known as "  the greatest glass manufacturer in Britain", taking advantage of the Birmingham Canal Navigations and the Industrial Revolution in the region. Great advances in glass manufacture take place such as perfection of the earliest optical lenses to block the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun and improvements in lighthouse illumination. The company is responsible for glazing the original Crystal Palace to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, and the Houses of Parliament (built 1840–1860). At that time it is the only firm that is able to make the opal glass for the four faces of the Westminster Clock Tower that houses the famous bell, Big Ben. The ornamental windows for the White House in America are also made at Chances. 1832: A form of German silver is invented by Charles Askins, this is used to make spoons and cutlery specifically in the Birmingham area. 1837: Bird's Custard is first formulated and cooked by Alfred Bird, because his wife is allergic to eggs, the key ingredient used to thicken traditional custard. Bird's custard powder later becomes famous around the world. 1838: Charles Green patents an original and unique method of producing solid, seamless brass and copper tubes, around this time much development takes place in Birmingham and Manchester with regard to copper tubing and printing plates. 1839: After many years of research, innovation and campaigning, Rowland Hill (of Kidderminster and later Birmingham) is given a two year contract to run his new postal system. Hill is an English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigns for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of penny postage and his solution of prepayment facilitates the safe, speedy and cheap transfer of letters. Hill later serves as a government postal official, and he is usually credited with originating the basic concepts of the modern postal service, including the invention of the postage stamp (his brother Edwin Hill helps the service with further innovations). 1839: Sir Edward Thomason improves the gun lock by making the cock detachable by the thumb and finger as well as making improvements to prevent misfires. George Elkington and Henry Elkington found the English electroplating industry in the early 19th century. In 1840, they aid John Wright, who discovers that potassium cyanide is a suitable electrolyte for gold and silver electroplating. Carl Wilhelm Siemens has several meetings with George Elkington, and makes speeches on 'Science and Industry,' to the Birmingham and Midland Institute, he later sets up a works in Birmingham and carries out experiments on metals and telegraphy. 1845: During the late 1830s, canal steam boats begin operating with limited success but in 1845, Birmingham engineer John Inshaw builds the first twin screw canal steamers. Inshaw finds great success through his engineering and in 1859 the owners of the Ashby Canal ban his steamer "Pioneer", claiming it erodes the canal banks. It is later allowed to run no faster than 4 mph, thus begin speed limits on British waterways. Inshaw's "Pioneer" is successful and later inspires other steam boats such as those built for the Grand Junction Canal. Inshaw is also consulted by George Stephenson on the design of wheels for steam locomotives. 1847: William Stroudley joins Birmingham engineer John Inshaw as one of his most successful pupils. Stroudley later becomes one of Britain's most famous steam locomotive engineers of the 19th century, working principally for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR). He designs some of the most famous and longest lived steam locomotives of his era. Birmingham glassworks are among the early mass producers of uranium glass. Manufacturers include Bacchus, Green & Green (later George Bacchus & Sons), Union Glassworks, in the 1840s, and Lloyd & Summerfield in the 1850s, who are the first to use uranium in glass commercially. 1849: William Tranter takes out the first of many patents for his improvements in manufacture of the firearm. The use of weather charts in a modern sense begins in the middle portion of the 19th century. Weather map pioneers include William Charles Redfield, William Reid, Elias Loomis, and Birmingham's Sir Francis Galton, who creates the first weather maps in order to devise a theory on storm systems. Galton formulates (and later coins the term for) eugenics as well as questionnaires and many important tools in statistics. Galton avidly supports the theories of his cousin Charles Darwin, and also furthers the most important advances in fingerprinting. 1851: John Nettlefold, screw manufacturer, attends the Paris exhibition. He later buys exclusive rights to use Thomas Sloan's machine for making screws, which is in the show. With adaptation of the machine for their Birmingham premises and inspiration of Birmingham mass production methods, Nettlefold & Chamberlain become Britain's leading screw making firm. 1854: Birmingham chemist Thomas Allcock invents the porous plaster for the relief of pain in New York after fighting as a General for the New York Heavy Artillery during the American Civil War after emigrating in 1845 aged 20. 1857: Joseph Sturge buys the Elberton Sugar Estate and converts it into a lime production plant. The Montserrat Co. Ltd. is formed in Edgbaston by J.& E. Sturge. Lime juice is produced in the city and then exported for use in the manufacture of citric acid. The failure of Sicily's lemon crop at this time results in an opening in the market, which Sturge takes great advantage of utilizing their extensive chemical works based in Edgbaston. He also tries to prove that Free labour can be made profitable (the Sturge family are instrumental in the anti slavery movement). A company is set up by the Sturge and Albright families who fund the development of Montserrat estates in 1867. 1858: After several failed attempts of launching the steam ship, Isambard Kingdom Brunel turns to Richard Tangye's more powerful hydraulic rams, which are successfully employed in the launch. Richard Tangye's company then acquires the patent of the differential pulley block in 1859, and in 1862 he invents the Tangye Patent hydraulic jack. This results in the 1862 purchase and demolition of Soho located Smethwick Hall, on the site of which is built the Cornwall Works. 1867: The patent for a new type of direct acting steam pump is acquired, in 1869 Tangye Ltd is commissioned to design the hydraulic systems for the UK's first funicular cliff railway in Scarborough, North Yorkshire and in 1870 the company commences the manufacture of steam engines. Richard Tangye and his brother George found the Birmingham Art Gallery in 1885, which today has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, archaeology, ethnography, local history and industrial history. They also found the Birmingham School of Art. 1859: The first ever game of lawn tennis is played in Edgbaston, international tennis is still played at Edgbaston's Priory Club. The first celluloid as a bulk material for forming objects is invented in 1856 by Alexander Parkes. Many years later, and with the recognition of celluloid as a format for making photographic film, an American court declares Parkes as the true inventor of celluloid. 1862: the thermoplastic Parkesine is showcased at the Great International Exhibition in London. Invented by Alexander Parkes, this celluloid is credited by the London Science Museum to be "generally accepted as the first plastic". (This presumably refers to synthetic plastic formed into objects: it is predated by the 1848 collodion, a nitrocellulose based solution that dries to a celluloid like film but is useless for industrial purposes, (as well as several natural plastics). 1862: James Moore Clements of Livery Street, who has already invented an improved machine for making buttonholes, is granted a patent for a new arrangement of 'stitching the hole'. 1863: William Sumner (founder of Typhoo) publishes "A Popular Treatise on Tea". In 1870, Sumner starts a pharmacy/grocery business on the High Street, Birmingham. This grows and forces Sumner to move to new premises on Castle Street and then on to Bordesley Street at the canalside. Typhoo tea later becomes one of the largest teabag makers in Britain. The brand is now based in Wirral. 1865: The steel wire, some 16,000 miles long, for sheathing the first successful Transatlantic telegraph cable is made by Webster and Horsfall, Birmingham. 1865: Joseph Hinks sets up James Hinks & Son, of 91 96 Great Hampton Street and 66 Hockley Street. He patents improvements to oil lamps, marketing the resultant Duplex Lamp, which is later used across the world and becomes a popular choice for railway workers. 1868: C. H. Gould patents a British stapler, although it remains unclear as to how different this is from U. S. patents of the same age. 1868: John Barnes Linnett patents the world's first flip book. 1873: William Westley Richards, gunmakers, takes out the first of many patents relating to the firearm, for which gold medals and royal warrants were awarded. 1875: Joseph Lucas begins making lamps for ships, concentrating on the new types of lamp burning paraffin and petroleum for which there is considerable demand. The business becomes Lucas Industries. 1876: William Bown patents a design for the wheels of roller skates that embodies his effort to keep the two bearing surfaces of an axle, fixed and moving, apart. Bown works closely with Joseph Henry Hughes, who draws up the patent for a ball or roller bearing race for bicycle and carriage wheels that includes all the elements of an adjustable system in 1877. 1878: Joseph Hudson makes the first whistle ever to be used by a football referee. It is used for the first time at a game held at Nottingham Forest, this replaces the referee's use of the handkerchief to attract footballers attention. Later, in 1883 Hudson invents and manufactures the first police whistle for the Metropolitan police force, prior to this police use hand rattles, whistles are usually used as musical instruments or toys. His whistle is still used by the force and many others today. In 1884 Hudson invents the world's most successful whistle to date, the 'Acme Thunderer' (the first ever pea whistle). The whistle is used as an alarm or attention instrument by all manner of industries, sports and revelers. It continues to sell in great quantities throughout the world. 1880: Gamgee Tissue, a surgical dressing with a thick layer of absorbent cotton wool between two layers of absorbent gauze, is invented by Joseph Sampson Gamgee. It represents the first use of cotton wool in a medical context, and is a major advancement in the prevention of infection of surgical wounds. It is still the basis for many modern surgical dressings. Gamgee also invents the aseptic technique, a procedure that is performed under sterile conditions. This includes medical and laboratory techniques, such as with microbiological cultures. It includes techniques like flame sterilization. The largest example of aseptic techniques is in hospital operating theatres. J. R. R. Tolkien later bases The Lord of the Rings character 'Sam Gamgee' on this character as they live near to Mr Gamgee. During the late 19th century, Birmingham companies such as Joseph Lucas & Sons and Powell & Hammer pioneered the production of bicycle lamps and lanterns for ships, capitalising on the advances in using acetylene gas. The Birmingham lamps were exported around the world, with the Lucas company later becoming famous for manufacturing components related to the motor industry and aerospace industry. Richard Bissell Prosser(1838–1918) writes 58 lives for the Dictionary of National Biography, and supplies much material for the New English Dictionary. Prosser also writes Birmingham Inventors and Inventions, 1881 and is a pioneer of the study of technical history, his published biographies and manuscript records are an incomparable source for present day researchers. His father Richard Prosser (1804–1854), engineer and inventor, was heavily involved with the introduction of the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852, and his 700 volume library, combined with that of Bennet Woodcroft forms the basis of the Patent Office Library. 1879: Harry Lucas designs a hub lamp for use in a high bicycle and names the oil lamp "King of the Road". 1881: Birmingham businessman John Skirrow Wright invents the postal order and its use subsequently spreads across the world. Skirrow becomes one of the prominent pioneers and social improvers of the 19th century. John Richard Dedicoat invents a bicycle bell, his patents for bicycle bells appear as early as 1877. Apprenticed to James Watt, Dedicoat goes on to become a bicycle manufacturer and makes and sells the "Pegasus" bicycle. 1883: Surgeon and gynaecologist Lawson Tait, pioneer of several surgical procedures, carries out the world's first successful operation on a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. 1884: John Berry Haycraft has been actively engaged in research and published papers on the coagulation of blood and in 1884, he discovers that the leech secretes a powerful anticoagulant, which he names hirudin. 1885: Birmingham School of Art becomes the first Municipal School of Art. It later becomes the leading centre for the Arts and Crafts movement. 1885: The world's first professional football league is founded at a meeting in Aston under the auspices of William McGregor, a director of Aston Villa. 1889: Charles Pinkney of Tangyes perfects a gas engine, this comes about through his experimentation with a hydrocarbon gas producer and a bituminous coal gas generator. The engine proves to be more economical that an earlier Four stroke Otto cycle engine. 1891: The Dunlop Rubber Company co founded by John Boyd Dunlop established its Birmingham factory Fort Dunlop, later to become the focus of Dunlop as one of the largest multinational manufacturers of automotive and aeronautical tyres. 1894: Richard Norris, a doctor of medicine and professor of physiology at Queen's College, Birmingham, brings out a new patent of dry plate used in photography and is generally credited with the first development of the collodion dry plate in the 1860s. 1895: Frederick William Lanchester and his brother build the first petrol driven four wheeled car in Britain. Lanchester also experiments with the wick carburetor, fuel injection, turbochargers and invents the accelerator pedal and first uses the pendulum governor for controlling the speed of a car engine. In 1893 he designs and builds his first engine (a vertical single cylinder) that is fitted to the first British motorboat. 1895: Herbert Austin, an employee at Wolseley Sheep Shearing Company, becomes interested in engines and automobiles. During the winter of 1895–96 he makes his own version of a design by Léon Bollée that he has seen in Paris. Later he finds that another British group have bought the rights, therefore Austin has to come up with a design of his own. Two years later, the second Wolseley car is revealed. It is a three wheeled design featuring independent rear suspension, mid engine and back to back seating for two adults. Four years later the Wolseley Gasoline Carriage is built featuring a steering wheel instead of a tiller. Austin manages the new Wolseley company for a short time before resigning to form his own concern, the Austin Motor Company, in 1905. Wolseley later becomes a successful car and engine maker selling upmarket cars, and even opens a lavish showroom, Wolseley House, in Piccadilly London (next to the Ritz Hotel, now housing a restaurant called The Wolseley). The company is later merged in other motor car companies. 1896: The first radiograph used to assist in surgery is taken in Birmingham by the British pioneer of medical X rays, Major John Hall Edwards thus kick starting a whole new field of medical science. 1896: A new building is built in Corporation Street to house James Henry Cook's vegetarian restaurant, one of the first in England. In 1898, 'The Pitman Vegetarian Hotel', named after the famous vegetarian Sir Isaac Pitman, opens on the same site, and the proprietors subsequently open a long running health food store. 1896: The first 'public' trial in Birmingham of a "horseless carriage" or motor car takes place at Cannon Hill Park. 1897: John Benjamin Stone founds the National Photographic Record Association, of which he becomes president. The National Portrait Gallery holds 62 of his portraits and many photographs of people and places in and around Westminster. His career culminates in 1911 with his appointment as official photographer to the coronation of King George V. Stone travels widely in pursuit of his hobby, taking 26,000 photographs, and writing books as he travels. He publishes works and invaluable records of the folk customs and traditions of the British Isles, which later influence photographers of note, such as Tony Ray Jones. 1897: The Reynolds Tube Company patents the process for making butted bicycle tubes, which are thicker at the ends than in the middle, this allows frame builders to create frames that are both strong and lightweight. Reynolds continues to develop lightweight bicycle frames into the 20th century picking up many awards for wins in races such as the Tour de France, the company still makes lightweight frames in the city today.

Bicycles have been manufactured in the Midlands (mainly Birmingham and Coventry) since the mid 19th century. By 1900 Birmingham has the largest number of bicycle makers and component manufacturers in Britain. Several advances in the development of the bicycle take place, one of the longer established high quality manufacturers being the Quadrant Cycle Company of Sheepcote Street, which later manufactures motorbikes (as do many cycle makers). Other notable firms are Reynolds (still manufacturing in the city), New Hudson, Rudge Whitworth (also of Coventry), BSA, CWS, Dawes, Grundle, James Cycle Co, Ariel, Armstrong Cycles, Phillips Cycles, Excelsior (originally of Coventry), Sun Cycle & Fittings Co, Pashley Cycles (now manufactured in Stratford upon Avon) and Hercules Cycle and Motor Company. Through the 20th century, many of Birmingham's bicycle manufacturers evolve into automobile and motorcycle brands, creating one of the busiest and most productive engineering hubs in the world. Motor engineering brands such as Wolseley, Lanchester, Metro Cammell, Austin, Morris, Vickers Armstrongs, New Hudson, Revere, Beardmore, Sun, Ariel, Norton, Rex Acme, Alldays & Onions, Velocette, Midland Red and BSA either originate or have substantial factories in Birmingham, manufacturing motorbikes, buses, tractors, cars, tanks and aeroplanes. Other diverse engineering companies develop to feed the supply chain of the motoring industry such as Webster and Horsfall (pioneering wire for aircraft and cars), Dunlop Rubber (supplying rubber and tyres), Lucas Industries (pioneering electric and lighting), Accles & Pollock (producing tubular sections for aircraft) and Pockley Electric (manufacturing car lights). 1900: Bournville Village Trust is founded by George Cadbury, this is to make many improvements and set high standards of living and leisure pastimes for factory workers across Britain. Cadbury's still makes chocolate in the city today and Bournville remains a sought after area to live in. 1900: John Wright invents a much improved gas fire, which uses fretted columns of fireclay, rather than tufted asbestos, to radiate the heat. The Wright design of gas fire heating endures throughout the century, however, electric fires improve at a similar pace. 1902: The first caliper type automobile disc brake is patented by Frederick William Lanchester in his Birmingham factory and used successfully on Lanchester cars. However, the limited choice of metals in this period means that he has to use copper as the braking medium acting on the disc. The poor state of the roads at this time — no more than dusty, rough tracks — means that the copper wears quickly, making the disc brake system non viable. It is not until 1929, in the same city that manufacturers Girling and New Hudson further develop disc brakes, which are very successful on racing cars from the early 1950s to the 1970s. Girling brakes have the quirk of using natural rubber (later nitrile) seals. Girling still manufacture disc brakes in Birmingham today. 1902: George Andrew Darby patents the first electrical heat detector and smoke detector. 1903: Birmingham born patent lawyer Bertram Hopkinson is elected to the Cambridge chair in mechanism and applied mechanics, where he carries out early research on tank armour plating. Hopkinson builds a team of researchers, one of whom is Harry Ricardo, the engineer who makes his name for his pioneering work on internal combustion engines. Hopkinson encourages Ricardo to work on engines. 1903: Brummie Francis William Aston wins a scholarship to the University of Birmingham and in his studies of electronic discharge tubes he discovers the phenomenon now known as the Aston Dark Space. He later moves to the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where he uses a method of electromagnetic focusing to invent the mass spectrograph, which rapidly allows him to identify no fewer than 212 of the 287 naturally occurring isotopes. His work on isotopes also leads to his formulation of the Whole Number Rule, which is later used extensively in the development of nuclear energy. In 1922 he wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the invention of the mass spectrometer. 1905: A manually powered domestic vacuum cleaner is invented by manufacturer Walter Griffiths of 72, Conybere Street, Highgate. It is originally patented as 'Griffiths' Improved Vacuum Apparatus for Removing Dust from Carpets'. Although an electric cleaner is patented in 1901 by H. Cecil Booth, Griffiths' design is more similar to modern portable cleaners than Booth's cart mounted device. 1905: Herbert Austin begins making cars at Longbridge, many improvements in mass car manufacture and production later arise from these car works. Seventeen years later the Austin 7 goes into production, it becomes one of the most popular cars ever produced for the British market, its effect on the British market is similar to that of the Model T Ford in the USA. Austin's designs and production help set up other car brands around the world that later become famous in their own right, such as BMW, Nissan and Lotus. 1905: Accles & Pollock Produces the first tubular box spanners. 1906: The earliest work on the parkerizing processes is developed by British inventors William Alexander Ross, in 1869, and by Thomas Watts Coslett, in 1906. Coslett, of Birmingham, subsequently files a patent based on this same process in America in 1907. It essentially provides an iron phosphating process, using phosphoric acid. Parkerizing (also called phosphating and phosphatizing) is a method of protecting a steel surface from corrosion and increasing its resistance to wear. Parkerizing is commonly used on firearms. 1907: Accles & Pollock produce the first tubular sections for aircraft and the first tubular furniture. the Butterfield Brothers also make an experimental aircraft engine in 1911. Birmingham engineering works later diversify with all manner of industries relating to the development and manufacture of aircraft components including assembly of whole planes during war years such as Spitfires, Hawker Hurricanes, Fairey Battle light bombers, Mercury and Pegasus aero engines, Short Stirling four engined heavy bombers and Avro Lancasters (towards the end of World War II). 1910: J. R. R. Tolkien begins to construct his first Elfin tongue whilst a pupil at King Edward's School, Birmingham. He later calls it Qenya (c. 1915). Tolkien is already familiar with Latin, Greek, Spanish, and several ancient Germanic languages, Gothic, Old Norse and Old English. Tolkien's parents are from Birmingham and he himself grows up, and studies in and around Birmingham (Tolkien also meets his wife in the town and considers himself a 'West Midlander'). The enduring popularity of The Lord of the Rings later leads to numerous references in popular culture, the founding of many societies by fans of Tolkien's works, and the publication of many books about Tolkien and his works. The Lord of the Rings continues to inspire artwork, music, films and television, video games and subsequent literature, including reference in the Oxford English Dictionary. Award winning adaptations of The Lord of the Rings are later made for radio, theatre and film. 1910: Oliver Lucas's company design and make an electric car vehicle horn, which becomes industry standard; an electric motorcycle horn is manufactured the following year. 1913: Accles & Pollock is granted a patent for seamless tapered steel golf shafts. and approved in 1920. 1920: Charles Henry Foyle invents the folding carton and is founder of Boxfoldia. However, an American process is developed by accident prior to this. 1921: A British patent for windscreen wipers is registered by Mills Munitions. Several other patents take place for windscreen wipers around the world. 1922: Birmingham rubber manufacturer Dunlop invents a tyre with steel rods and a canvas casing that lasts three times longer than any other tyre, this is a milestone in tyre manufacture. The following year their tyres help Henry Segrave win a Grand Prix title in a Sunbeam racing car, and are then used on a Bentley to help win the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. By 1927 Dunlop tyres have already helped Malcolm Campbell reach a British land speed record and in this year, they help Henry Segrave achieve the world land speed record in a Sunbeam 1000 hp at Daytona Beach Road Course, USA. In 1931 Dunlop tyres help Malcolm Campbell achieve a new land speed record in a Blue Bird at Daytona Beach Road Course, USA. In 1935 Dunlop helps Malcolm Campbell achieve yet another new land speed record in the USA. Foam rubber is also invented at the Dunlop Latex Development Laboratories, Fort Dunlop in 1929. Dunlop continues to pioneer advances in tyre manufacture and becomes industry standard for many prestigious car makers and its tyres have been used, and continue to be used, on cars achieving victory in motor rallies and racing championships such as Formula 1 and touring. 1923: Arthur L. Large invents the immersed heating resistor, a major advancement in the electric kettle. A safety valve is introduced by kettle maker Walter H. Bullpitt, also from Birmingham, in 1931. These two advances in electrical water heating are to have profound effects on water heating and become the basis of the modern day electric kettle. 1926: Cameras have been made in Birmingham since 1880, by companies such as J. Lancaster & Son and in 1926 Coronet begin manufacturing cameras in the city. Coronet eventually mass produce cheap, but affordable cameras. Coronet have close links with other Birmingham camera makers such as Standard Cameras Ltd (featured in the National Media Museum) and E Elliott Ltd, who manufacture the unique and now collectible V. P. Twin (featured in the Museum of early consumer electronics and 1st achievements). 1928: Brummie, Oscar Deutsch opens his first Odeon Cinema in nearby Brierley Hill. By 1930, "Odeon" is a household name and the cinemas are known for their maritime inspired Art Deco architecture. This style is first used in 1930 on the cinema at Perry Barr in Birmingham, which is bought by Deutsch to expand the chain. He likes the style so much that he commissions the architect, Harry Weedon, to design his future buildings. The Odeon cinema chain later becomes one of the largest cinema chains in Europe. 1928: The George Tucker Eyelet company, of Birmingham, England, produced a type of "cup" rivet. This is later developed as the "POP rivet". 1929: Brylcreem (made famous by the Teddy Boy) is invented in the city and later gives rise to other hair styling products. First production run of Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company (Midland Red) buses takes place during the 1920s—one of the first British buses to have pneumatic tyres. BMMO later develop petrol and diesel engines during the 1930s, with experimental rear engined buses being built. By the 1940s experiments with, and production of under floor engined single deck buses take place. Experiments and developments of independent front suspension, air suspension, rubber suspension, glass fibre construction and disc brakes take place during the 1950s. 1959 sees the introduction of a turbocharged coach capable of almost 100 mph, for non stop motorway services. High speed (motorway) buses are developed with passenger toilets. During the 1960s BMMO becomes the first British bus company to make wide scale use of computers in compiling bus schedules and staff rosters. 1932: The Birmingham Sound Reproducers company is set up in the West Midlands. In the early 1950s, Samuel Margolin begins buying auto changing turntables from BSR, using them as the basis of his Dansette record player. Over the next twenty years, "Dansette" becomes a household word in Britain. By 1957, BSR has grown to employ 2,600 workers. In addition to manufacturing their own brand of player—the Monarch Automatic Record Changer that could select and play 7", 10" and 12" records at 331/3, 45 or 78 rpm, changing between the various settings automatically—BSR McDonald supplied turntables and autochangers to most of the world's record player manufacturers, eventually gaining 87% of the market. By 1977, BSR's various factories produced over 250,000 units a week. 1932: Leonard Parsons is the first to use synthetic vitamin C as treatment for scurvy in children. 1933: Credenda Conduit Co. Ltd of Birmingham patent a Credastat automatic oven thermostat, which is fitted to Creda electric cookers. This is an early advancement in electric cookers and a feature that eventually becomes standard on all electric cookers. An example of this cooker is on display at the London Science Museum. 1934: The Reynolds Tube Company introduces the double butted tube set 531 for high strength but lightweight bicycle frames. Reynolds 531 remains for many years at the forefront of alloy steel tubing technology and is used to form the front subframes on the Jaguar E Type during the 1960s. Before the introduction of more exotic materials such as aluminium, titanium or composites, Reynolds is considered the dominant maker of high end materials for bicycle frames. According to the company, 27 winners of the Tour de France have won riding on Reynolds tubing. 1935: Birmingham has a long history of toy and trinket manufacture and in 1935 the biggest toy makers in England, Chad Valley, are appointed Toy Makers to the Queen of the United Kingdom. During their existence Chad Valley carry out several improvements and practices in the manufacture of toys during their production between the late 19th and mid 20th centuries, constantly striving to develop new board games, jigsaws and toys. 1937: Professor Norman Haworth is awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his pioneering work on carbohydrates and synthetic vitamin C.

1939: Dr Mary Evans and Dr Wilfred Gaisford begin trials of the world's first antibiotic M&B (sulfapyridine) as treatment for lobar pneumonia. Birmingham becomes the major British manufacturer of the phenolic plastic Bakelite. The magnetron, the core component in the development of radar, and the first microwave power oscillators are developed at the University of Birmingham during World War II (the microwave oven owes its existence to these developments). 1940: After initial teething problems with management, Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory started production of the Spitfire fighter plane. By the time production ended at Castle Bromwich in June 1945, a total of 12,129 Spitfires (921 Mk IIs, 4489 Mk Vs, 5665 Mk IXs and 1054 Mk XVIs) had been built. CBAF became the largest and most successful plant of its type during the 1939–45 conflict. As the largest Spitfire factory in the UK, by producing up to 320 aircraft per month, it built over half of the approximately 20,000 aircraft of this type. 1940: The Frisch–Peierls memorandum is finalised by Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls while both working at Birmingham University—this is the first document to set out a process by which an atomic explosion could be generated. 1944: Anthony Ernest Pratt takes out his first patent for a board game named 'Murder', this is later to become the world renowned murder mystery game 'Cluedo'. 1946: Chance Brothers produce the first all glass syringe with interchangeable barrel and plunger, thereby allowing mass sterilisation of components without the need for matching them. 1947: Dunlop tyres help John Cobb raise the world land speed record to 630 km/h in the Railton Special, which is now displayed in Birmingham's Thinktank museum. Between 1947 and 1951 Professor Peter Medawar pioneers research on skin graft rejection at Birmingham University, this leads to the discovery of a substance that aids nerves to reunite and the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance, Medawar is awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1960 for his work during this time. 1950: In February, the first operation in England for 'hole in the heart' (congenital atrial septal defect) is performed at Birmingham Children's Hospital. Conway Berners Lee, a mathematician and computer scientist from Birmingham, works in the team that develops the Ferranti Mark 1, the world's first commercial stored program electronic computer. Berners Lee is demobilized from the British Army in 1947 with the rank of Major. By the late 1960s Berners Lee leads the Medical Development Team of ICT and then ICL and is involved in some of the earliest developments in the applications of computers in medicine, and his text compression ideas are taken up by an early electronic patient record system. Berners Lee later marries Mary Lee Woods (also from Birmingham). Woods studies at Birmingham University and later works in the team that develop programs for the Manchester Mark 1, Ferranti Mark 1 and Mark 1 Star computers. In 1955 the Berners Lees become parents to Tim Berners Lee, who invents the World Wide Web, making the first proposal for it in March 1989. 1952: Professor Charlotte Anderson (Leonard Parsons Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health) is one of the team who prove that the glutens in wheat cause coeliac disease, from this gluten free diets are introduced. 1954: The Stewart platform (a parallel robot) first comes into use. Stewart platforms have applications in machine tool technology, crane technology, underwater research, air to sea rescue, satellite dish positioning, telescopes and orthopedic surgery but are better known for flight simulation. 1950–1959: Essential research and development on heart pacemakers and plastic heart valves is carried out by Leon Abrams at Birmingham University. 1959: The Mini car begins production at Birmingham's Longbridge plant. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space saving front wheel drive layout (which allowed 80% of the area of the car's floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage) influenced a generation of car makers. In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T.

1962: Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand born and Birmingham raised, receives the Nobel Prize for his work on DNA structure, he is one of three who become known as the Code Breakers. Wilkins is educated at King Edward's School (and St John's College, Cambridge), he receives a PhD for the study of phosphors at the University of Birmingham, where he works on radar display screens and uranium isotope separation before moving to the Manhattan Project. 1962: Bill Fransen of American company Chamberlins brings two of their musical instruments to England to search for someone who could manufacture 70 matching tape heads for future Chamberlin keyboards. Fransen approaches a UK company that is skilled enough to develop the idea further and a deal is struck with Bradmatic Ltd. The first Mellotron sample keyboards are manufactured in Aston and are to enjoy great longevity in the music industry. Alongside the Hammond organ, the Mellotron later becomes a seminal musical instrument for music genres such as rock and psychedelia, it is also crucial to shaping the sound of the progressive rock and hard rock groups of the 1970s as well as inspiring further development of the sample keyboard, most notably the Fairlight, which, in turn, inspired sample modules such as the Akai Sampler range; synonymous with hip hop and dance music. Some of the more notable songs that make use of the signature Mellotron sound include Nights In White Satin by The Moody Blues, Tomorrow Never Knows and Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles, 2000 Light Years from Home and We Love You by The Rolling Stones, Hole In My Shoe by Traffic, Mercy Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye, Days by The Kinks, Space Oddity by David Bowie, Stairway to Heaven, The Rain Song and Kashmir by Led Zeppelin. 1965: The Birmingham Press and Mail installs the GEC PABX 4 ACD, the earliest example of a call centre in the UK. Already the hallmarks of the call centre can be seen in the rows of agents with individual phone terminals, taking and making calls. 1969–1970: Heavy metal music begins to take shape in Britain and America. Of the earliest influential bands that are later to be described as Heavy Metal, several of the most notable artists arise from the mid to late 1960s Brum Beat music scene, such as: Robert Plant and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward of Black Sabbath and Rob Halford and Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest. During the later half of the 20th century the first trials of the combined oral contraceptive pill outside the USA take place at Birmingham University and extensive research into advanced allergy vaccines and the synthesis of artificial blood take place. 1975: Birmingham inventor Michael Gerzon co invents the Soundfield microphone. Gerzon studies at the University of Oxford, and is inspired by Alan Blumlein's landmark 1933 development of stereophonic recording and reproduction. The Soundfield range of microphones are now considered the ultimate microphones for recording both stereophonic and multichannel surround formats. Gerzon later plays a large role in the invention of Ambisonics, which is a series of recording and replay techniques using multichannel mixing technology that can be used live or in the studio. <! 5. dead link and should be set up as a