A. J. Hirst ( -1970)
1970 Obituary [1]
Mr A. J. Hirst (Member), Chief Technical Engineer of the Dunlop Company Polymer Engineering Division , died recently.
Mr Hirst served his apprenticeship with Austin Motor Company. During the 1939-45 war he was engaged on research into vibration with Rolls-Royce. He joined Dunlop Polymer Engineering (then Metalastik Ltd) in 1945.
An expert on vibration and the use of rubber in engineering, Mr Hirst was best known for his work on rubber suspension. He began work on the design of rubber springs for London Transport trains shortly after the war, and the spring systems he designed have been adopted by London Transport, the Stockholm Underground, the Paris Metro and other railway authorities for locomotives, carriages and wagons. He was also responsible for the development of rubber suspension systems for machinery and for road vehicles, including those used on Midland Red and Daimler Roadliner buses.
His many friends and colleagues will miss him greatly