Alex Moulton

Alexander Eric Moulton (born April 9, 1920 in Stratford upon Avon , † December 9, 2012 in Bath ) was a British engineer and inventor.

Moulton is a great-grandson of Stephen Moulton , who founded George Spencer Moulton & Co. Ltd as a pioneer in rubber processing . After Avon Rubber had in 1956 taken over the family business, Alexander Moulton founded his own company, Moulton Development Ltd .

He developed the idea of rubber suspension for the British Motor Corporation and later for Dunlop. His friendship with Alec Issigonis , the BMC designer, whose most famous creation was the Mini equipped with rubber suspension elements, played a major role . Both had already implemented a forerunner of this concept half a decade earlier in the Alvis TA 350 , which, however, was not mass-produced for financial reasons.

Moulton Stowaway from 1967

The divisible and rubber-sprung Moulton bicycle , like the Mini, is a side effect of the petrol rationing imposed by the Suez crisis in England.

Both Moulton Bicycle and Mini were introduced in 1959 and had both rubber suspension and small tires. The Moulton Stowaway folding bike had 16 "high-pressure tires, the Mini 10" tires. Moulton initially offered its folding bike model to the Raleigh Cycle Company . When this refused, he decided to produce the Moulton Stowaway folding bike himself. In the meantime, Alexander Moulton's folding bike is considered a design object worth exhibiting and is part of many art exhibitions.

From 1985 to 1988 Moulton was Vice President of the Royal Academy of Engineering . In 1976 he was accepted for his services in the Order of the British Empire with the rank of Commander . He has also received other awards such as several honorary doctorates.

Web links

Moulton's biography
Alex Moulton has died By Andrea Reidl in " Die Zeit " December 13, 2012 at 1:46 pm

Individual evidence

↑ Dr Alex Moulton dies. Retrieved December 10, 2012 .
↑ David Culshaw: Alvis three liter in detail: TA 21 to TF 21 1950–67. Herridge and Sons, Beaworthy, Devon, England, 2003, ISBN 0-9541063-2-6 , p. 113.

personal data
SURNAME	Moulton, Alex
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Moulton, Alexander Eric
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British engineer and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH	April 9, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH	Stratford upon Avon , Warwickshire
DATE OF DEATH	December 9, 2012
Place of death	Bath , Somerset

[1] Dr Alex Moulton dies. Retrieved December 10, 2012 .

[2] David Culshaw: Alvis three liter in detail: TA 21 to TF 21 1950–67. Herridge and Sons, Beaworthy, Devon, England, 2003, ISBN 0-9541063-2-6 , p. 113.