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Frederick Richard Simms (1863–1944-04-22) was a British engineer and motor industry pioneer.1 Simms was one of the founding fathers of the British motor industry, he took part in the first London to Brighton run, and he also founded the Royal Automobile Club, and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, designed and built the first ever armored car the Motor War Car.
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Biography
Frederick Simms was born in 1863. He was brought up in Hamburg, serving an engineering apprenticeship in Germany. In 1889 Simms met Gottlieb Daimler, from whom he purchased the rights for the use of Daimler's internal combustion engine in the UK, which paved the way for the start-up of the British motor industry.1 Simms founded the Daimler Motor Syndicate in 1893, possibly the UK's first motor company.1 and in June 1895 Simms and Evelyn Ellis brought one of the first petrol–powered cars into the UK.1 In 1896 Simms became the first consulting engineer of the Daimler Motor Company, a company established by the purchaser's of his Daimler patents.1 Later that same year Simms, and Gottlieb Daimler, took part in a trip from London to Brighton in celebration of the lifting of the Locomotive Act which had required vehicles to travel no faster than 4 mph (6 km/h)—this trip established the London to Brighton run.1 Simms founded the Automobile Club of Great Britain (later the RAC) in 1897.1
Simms acquired some of the foreign patent rights to the petrol engine and in 1900 he set up Simms Manufacturing Company Ltd. In 1902 he founded, and was elected the first president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).1 In 1907 he established the Simms Magneto Company Ltd after he had obtained UK magneto manufacturing rights from Robert Bosch.
Besides working on magneto ignition for cars, Simms made Simms-Welbeck cars, lorries and marine engines, invented the first rubber bumper and a prototype indicator, agricultural vehicles, military vehicles and guns, and aeronautical devices.
In 1913 Simms started Simms Motor Units Ltd, which in World War I became the principal supplier of magnetos to the armed forces. In 1920 the company took over a former piano factory in East Finchley, north London. During the 1930s the factory developed a range of Diesel fuel injectors. In World War II the company again became the principal supplier of magnetos for aircraft and tanks, also supplying dynamos, starter motors, lights, pumps, nozzles, spark plugs and coils.
The East Finchley factory continued to expand after the war, eventually reaching 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2), and the company took over many other other firms. Simms Motor Units was itself taken over by Lucas CAV in 1968. Manufacturing in East Finchley was steadily run down as UK manufacturers lost market share. The factory closed in 1991 to be redeveloped for housing. It is commemorated by Simms Gardens and Lucas Gardens.
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- This page was last modified on 1 November 2008, at 18:23.
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