JCB (company) photography. The logo was designed by Leslie Smith, and is off-set at 18 degrees from the horizontal and 22 degrees from the vertical—the angles Joe Bamford liked. To demonstrate his faith in the hydraulic fail safes on JCB machines (which lock the arms in the event of a loss of hydraulic pressure, preventing them from crashing to the ground), Joe Cyril Bamford arranged to have several backhoes raise themselves up on their arms, and drove his car beneath them. This has since developed into a world-famous demonstration of the versatility of the backhoe configuration. The JCB display team (JCB Dancing
Joseph Bamford and standing engines, which were exported all over the world. The company eventually ceased trading in 1986. After attending Stonyhurst College, he joined the Alfred Herbert company in Coventry, then the UK's largest machine-tool manufacturer, and rose to represent the firm in Ghana. He returned home in 1938 to join the family firm, but in 1941 was called up by the RAF to serve in World War II. Working in supply and logistics, he returned to the African Gold Coast, to run a staging post for USAF planes being ferried to the Middle East. On return home in 1944, Bamford