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Title
War Inventions Award - Reports
Reference
YA1996.1735/MS0531/24
Production date
13-12-1928 - 26-10-1951

Creator

Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd Biography Biography
Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd was the new trading name given to British Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co on 8 September 1919. The predecessor company had sold its controlling share to the Metropolitan Carriage Wagon Co in 1916 in order to gain membership of the Federation of British Industries. In 1919, Vickers acquired the Metropolitan Carriage Wagon Co, along with its controlling share in British Westinghouse, prompting the change in name to Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd. The American owned British Westinghouse had established its English operations at Trafford Park in 1899, and Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd continued on the same site from 8 September 1919. The company was initially known for its electricity generators, later diversifying into the manufacture of steam turbines, switchgear, transformers, electronics and railway traction equipment. The passing of the Electricity (Supply) Act in 1926 provided a boost to the company’s post-war fortunes, with the creation of the National Grid generating demand for the company's products. In 1928, Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd merged with its rival British Thomson Houston Co Ltd, retaining both names for trading purposes. The following year, on 4 January 1929, Associated Electrical Industries Ltd (AEI) acquired Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd and the British Thomson Houston Co Ltd. Again, both trading names were retained, and a fierce rivalry was established between the firms which the parent company was unable to control. In 1931, Sir Felix Pole joined Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd as its new chairman. He oversaw a period of expansion for the company leading into the Second World War. In 1939, seeking a more concise name for the company, the Board of Directors decided upon Metrovicks, which became interchangeable with the official company name of Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd. Under Sir Felix Pole's chairmanship, Metropolitan-Vickers developed new products for the aviation industry and during the war was one of the sites where Lancaster bombers were built. In 1941, the company developed the first British axial-flow jet engine, the Metrovick F.2. Following the Second World War, the company appointed Oliver Lyttelton as chairman, with the aim of increasing the efficiency and productivity of AEI. Despite his success in achieving this aim, Lyttelton was unable to resolve the commercial rivalry between Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd and the British Thomson Houston Co Ltd. During his second period as chairman, from 1954-1963, Lyttelton, now Lord Chandos, oversaw the development by Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd of the first commercial transistor computer, the Metrovick 950. Chandos also resolved to extinguish the competition and internal divisions between Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd and the British Thomson Houston Co Ltd, and both company names ceased to be used from 1 January 1960, with all subsidiaries going on to trade under the name of Associated Electrical Industries Ltd.

Scope and Content
File containing reports, memos and correspondence relating to the early development of radio transmission and radio direction finding equipment. Various sources in the file indicate the role of development work carried out by C.R. Burch on low vapour pressure oils and greases which it was discovered could be used in the operation of high vacuum pumps. Documents also provide information on Trigatron and Triggered Spark Gaps.
Extent
0.02 linear metres
Physical description
Good
Language
English
Level of description
FILE
Repository name
Science and Industry Museum

Associated people and organisations

Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors Biography Biography
A Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors is a periodic Royal Commission of the United Kingdom used to hear patent disputes. These inventions were broadly divided into two groups, patented and unpatented. Where an invention had been patented the inventor was legally protected. Although he or she could not control the use of his or her invention by the Government, or prevent the use of it at all, as was possible with private users, he or she was entitled to negotiate an equitable payment. The inventor of an unpatented device was not entitled by right to any payment for its use, but relied on the bounty of the Crown, exercised on the recommendation of the commission. A Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors was set up in 1919, which embraced consideration of all inventions used by the Government in the prosecution of the 1914-18 War. This wound up in 1937. Another was established in 1946 until 1955, this commission followed the general lines of that set up in 1919.
Burch, Cecil Reginald Biography Biography
Cecil Reginald Burch, born on the 21th May 1901, was the fifth child of Professor and Mrs George James Burch. He, nor his older brother never liked the name Cecil, so his brother decided to call him Bill instead, a name which stuck. After attending prep school and later Oundle he won a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in December 1918. He left Cambridge with a second in 1922 and was offered a College apprenticeship by the Metropolitan-Vickers electrical Co Ltd for 2 years in the Spring of 1922. During his Apprenticeship at Metro-Vicks he excelled at research and as a result his early work, with another apprentice, worked on an improved receiver in 1924. On the completion of his a little later that year he was put on the staff of the Physics Department in August 1924. Burch was responsible for developing the theory of induction heating and as a result during which he constructed a new water-cooled coil which could operate at 50Hz the furnace in which the coil was fitted was able to melt 100lb of non-ferrous metal in 30 minutes. This early work resulted in Metropolitan-Vickers being able to patent designs for an induction furnace capable of turning out 600 tons of high-grade steels in a day, all melted in an induction furnace. As well as developing induction furnaces Burch also helped in the development of oils and greases with extremely low vapour pressures, he named them apiezon. His work on vacuum engineering eventually was recognised by The British Vacuum Council who allowed his name to be associated with a prize to young authors presenting the best paper on some aspect of vacuum engineering. This work enabled the development of large high-powered thermionic valves, important components in radios transmitting over large distances. Burch, his brother Francis and J. H. Ludlow developed a valve used by the G.P.O. for sending transmissions from their Rugby transmitter in the early 1930s. After some more development work the team were ready to apply for a patent when, sadly his brother died from a transfusion of incompatible blood. The high-powered tetrode valve was on display at the works when a visiting group of engineers from the Institute of Electrical Engineering visited. One of them Robert Watson-Watt was so impressed with the amount of radio power that he immediately went away and asked the Air Ministry to order the valves for work he was conducting on detecting aircraft., later to become known as Chain Home. Unfortunately for Metropolitan-Vickers the death of Francis hit Burch very hard. They had both shared the same digs in Stretford from 1922 until his death in 1933, as well as working in the same department at Metro-Vicks. He decided that he should have a clean break from working and living in the area and therefore applied to Imperial College and obtained a Leverhulme Research Studentship under the supervision of Professor G. P. Thomson. He left Metro-Vicks in September 1933.

Subject
Electrical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Vacuum technology.
Conditions governing access
Open access.
Conditions governing Reproduction
Copies may be supplied in accordance with current copyright legislation and Science Museum Group terms and conditions.