Thornycroft

Thornycroft was an English vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977.

==History== thumb|Thornycroft steam van of 1896 thumb|Thornycroft steam wagon of 1897 with tipper body to act as a dust-cart thumb|upright| Thornycroft lorries requisitioned for service (1914). thumb|upright|Thornycroft steam wagon of 1905 thumb|1902 Thornycroft steam lorry, ex County Borough of Bournemouth In 1896, naval engineer John Isaac Thornycroft formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its first steam van. This was exhibited at the Crystal Palace Show, and could carry a load of 1 ton. It was fitted with a Thornycroft marine launch-type boiler (Thornycroft announced a new boiler designed for its steam carriages in October 1897). The engine was a twin-cylinder compound engine arranged so that high-pressure steam could be admitted to the low-pressure cylinder to give extra power for hill-climbing. A modified version of the steam wagon with a 6-cubic-yard tipper body was developed for Chiswick council in 1896 and went into service as a very early self-propelled dust-cart. While the original 1896 wagon had front-wheel drive with rear-wheel steering, the tipper dust-cart had rear-wheel drive and front-wheel steering. The Thornycroft tipper was built by the Bristol Wagon & Carriage Works, though engined by Thornycroft.