Charles Henry Pugh (6 June 18409 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

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) of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

.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