Charles Henry Pugh (6 June 1840 – 9 April 1901) was founder of a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

manufacturer. Charles Henry Pugh was the chairman and managing director of the Whitworth Cycle Co., he was also the chairman of CH. Pugh Ltd. Pugh designed a

machine press A forming press, commonly shortened to press, is a machine tool that changes the shape of a work-piece by the application of pressure. The operator of a forming press is known as a press-tool setter, often shortened to tool-setter. Presses ...

and specialized steel for making seamless bicycle rims. By 1894 Pugh was the leader of Rudge-Whitworth: a company which became Great Britain’s leading bicycles and motorcycle manufacturer.

Career

Pugh, along with his two sons, Charles Vernon and John, co-founded Whitworth Cycle Co. (later

Rudge-Whitworth Rudge Whitworth Cycles was a British bicycle, bicycle saddle, motorcycle and sports car wheel manufacturer that resulted from the merger of two bicycle manufacturers in 1894, Whitworth Cycle Co. of Birmingham, founded by Charles Henry Pug ...

) of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

.Driver, Hugh. ''The Birth of Military Aviation: Britain, 1903–1914'' Royal Historical Society, Boydell Press, Suffolk UK, Rochester NY, 1997, p.14. following Charles Henry Pugh's death his sons took the company public, and renamed it Charles H. Pugh Ltd. In 1921 Charles Henry Pugh's son Charles Vernon Pugh owned a company called the Atlas Chain Company. That company sold the first mass produced gas powered lawn mower. The mower was named the Atco: a name derived from the company name. Atco 1932

References

1840 births 1901 deaths British businesspeople People from Birmingham, West Midlands British inventors Place of birth missing 19th-century British businesspeople {{UK-cycling-bio-stub