Dr. Alexander Eric ("Alex") Moulton CBE (born 9 April 1920) is an English engineer and inventor, specialising in suspension design.
Moulton is the great-grandson of the rubber pioneer Stephen Moulton, the founder of the family business George Spencer Moulton & Co. Ltd., in which he worked after World War II, specialising in rubber suspension systems for vehicles.
In the late 1950s, after the acquisition of the family business by the Avon Rubber Company, Moulton started up a new company, Moulton Developments Limited, to design the suspension system for BMC's new small car, the Mini, being designed by his friend Sir Alec Issigonis. The combination of conical rubber springs and small wheels was one of the many innovative developments which allowed Issigonis to achieve the Mini's small overall size. This was later refined into the hydrolastic and hydragas suspension systems used on later British Leyland cars such as the Austin Maxi and Rover Metro.
Moulton also designed the Moulton Bicycle, again using rubber suspension and small wheels. Alex Moulton Bicycles is based in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England.
Golden Book of Cycling
His entry in the Golden Book of Cycling, which he signed when he was 71, says:
- Cyclists throughout the world owe Alex Moulton CBE a debt for his inventive genius in originating and developing a bicycle design that was not only sprung but also rigid. It was introduced at the London cycle show in 1962.
- Moulton had worked at the Bristol Aeroplane Company before the Second World War, later joining the family firm of Spencer, Moulton and Company at Bradford-on-Avon, where he became technical director.
- In 1956 the family business was sold and Moulton founded Moulton Developments Ltd to concentrate on the design and development of suspension systems for vehicles. From his work on the suspension of four-wheel road vehicles he turned to the advancement of cycle suspension employing small wheels and narrow tyres, together with sprung frames and forks. Moulton converted a former stable block at his home, The Hall, into a modern factory for the production of bicycles.
- The original Moulton Bicycle Company was sold to the then Raleigh company, with Moulton retained as a consultant but sales of the sprung bicycle were not fully exploited. Later, Moulton resumed production of sprung machines at his Bradford-on-Avon factory to feed the world-wide demand that still persisted.
- Some 30 years after the introduction of the first Moulton commercial model, the design continued to maintain its influence and popularity enhanced by further developments in 1991.
Honours
In 1976, Moulton was awarded the CBE for services to industry. Other honours include:
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