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Frederick Richard Simms
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frederick Richard Simms was a British engineer and motor industry pioneer. Simms purchased the rights for the use of the Gottlieb Daimler's internal combustion engine, which paved the way for the start-up of the British motor industry.
Frederick Simms was born in 1863. He was brought up in Hamburg, serving an engineering apprenticeship in Germany. Simms acquired some of the foreign patent rights to the petrol engine and in 1900 he set up Simms Manufacturing Company Ltd and in 1907 the Simms Magneto Company Ltd after he had obtained UK magneto manufacturing rights from Robert Bosch. Simms was a founder of the Automobile Club of Great Britain (later the RAC) in 1897 and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) in 1902.
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 1 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, 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.
