Edward Spurr (1907–1998) was an English engineer. He was born in Eccleshill,

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, England. He was a pupil of Hanson Boys High School. Often described as "Bradford's Forgotten Inventor", he worked on an impressive range of projects. Not only did he design a powerboat engine with T. E. Lawrence (

Lawrence of Arabia Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British Army officer, archaeologist, diplomat and writer known for his role during the Arab Revolt and Sinai and Palestine campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the First W ...

), but also worked on the Dambusters'

bouncing bomb A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be predeterm ...

and

Frank Whittle Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, (1 June 1907 – 8 August 1996) was an English engineer, inventor and Royal Air Force (RAF) air officer. He is credited with co-creating the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 fo ...

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...

. Spurr also designed various parts and other engines, for boats and planes, cars, motorcycles, and washing machines, his other inventions include pick-ups for record players and an automatic

toaster A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast, the color caused by the Maillard reaction. It typically consists of one or more slots into which bread is inserted, and heating elements, o ...

References

1907 births 1998 deaths People from Eccleshill, West Yorkshire 20th-century British inventors {{England-engineer-stub