Planes, trains & automobiles

From the penny-farthing to the Range Rover Sport, the West Midlands manufacturing industry remains influential.

The penny drops

In the mid-1800s, Coventry-born inventor James Starley created the first practical bicycle. Coventry became home to Britain’s first cycle factory, manufacturing the penny-farthing in 1871.

Starley’s influence spread across the West Midlands, with John Richard Dedicoat inventing the bicycle bell in Birmingham some years later.

All aboard VLR

The next generation of tram systems is being developed by engineers and researchers at Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick. They will be tested across Dudley before a permanent track is installed in Coventry. Very Light Rail will improve the efficiency and cost of tram vehicles and with the objective to make the vehicles autonomous.

A head of steam

In 1712, Thomas Newcomen and his partner John Calley built the first fuel-burning engine at the Conygree Coalworks near Dudley. Today, the West Midlands is at the heart of HS2, with the National College for High-Speed Rail training the rail engineers of the future.

Electric dreams

Coventry is leading the charge in zero-emission machines. Microcab, a spin-out company from Coventry University, develops and manufactures hydrogen fuel cells for use in electric vehicles. The West Midlands continues to show its commitment to the low carbon economy.

In the driving seat

The West Midlands is the centre of UK automotive R&D. Birmingham-based Lucas Industries invented the first car horn, manufacturer Mills Munitions patented the first windscreen wiper and Coventry engineer Charles Humpherson created car indicators.


Wolverhampton-based inventor Thomas Parker built the first practical electric car, while the Wolverhampton-built Sunbeam motor car became the first vehicle to reach 200mph when it broke the land speed record. Wolverhampton-based firm, Guy Motors, produced armour plated cars to protect the Royal family and Winston Churchill during World War II. Today, Jaguar Land Rover’s plants in Wolverhampton and Solihull continue to drive automotive ambition.

Magnificent Magnesium

Birmingham City University formed the Magnesium Innovation Group with the world’s largest producer of magnesium die case components, Meridian Lightweight Technologies UK, to address the misconceptions and underuse of magnesium in industry. Its researchers are transforming the future of magnesium by showing its importance to the transport industry – such as aerospace – as a viable alternative to steel or aluminium.

High flyers

Actuation systems play a huge role in creating a safe journey for everybody on board an aircraft. The systems are a vital link between the flight controls and hydraulic systems - every commercial plane flying in the sky contains actuators made in the City of Wolverhampton. Moog, whose history in Wolverhampton dates back to 1938, supplies aircraft around the world such as Boeing and Airbus. Other cutting-edge specialists operating in the aerospace sector include Meggitt, IPG Photonics and Arrowsmith Engineering in Coventry, plus Bromford Industries and Dunlop Tyres in Birmingham.

 

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