JCB (company) as a generic description for mechanical diggers and excavators and now appears in the "Oxford English Dictionary", although it is still held as a trademark. JCB was founded by Joseph Cyril Bamford in October 1945 in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England. He rented a lock-up garage . In it, using a welding set which he bought second-hand for £1 from English Electric, he made his first vehicle, a tipping trailer from war-surplus materials. The trailer's sides and floor were made from steel sheet that had been part of air raid shelters. On the same day as his son Anthony was born, he
Bamford–Stevens reaction Bamford–Stevens reaction The Bamford–Stevens reaction is a chemical reaction whereby treatment of tosylhydrazones with strong base gives alkenes. It is named for the British chemist William Randall Bamford and the Scottish chemist Thomas Stevens Stevens (1900–2000). The usage of aprotic solvents gives predominantly Z-alkenes, while protic solvent gives a mixture of E- and Z-alkenes. As an alkene-generating transformation, the Bamford–Stevens reaction has broad utility in synthetic methodology and complex molecule synthesis. The treatment of tosylhydrazones with alkyl lithium reagents is called the Shapiro reaction. The first step of the Bamford–Stevens reaction is the formation of the diazo compound 3. In