Dennis Brothers

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Dennis Brothers Limited

Dennis was a British manufacturer of automobiles , trucks and buses .

Company history

In 1895, John Dennis (1871-1939) opened the Universal Athletic Stores on Guildford High Street . Together with his brother Raymond Dennis (1878–1939) he produced bicycles for the Speed ​​King and Speed ​​Queen brands . They soon expanded their production to include motorized three-wheelers and from 1900 to four-wheeled motor vehicles. 1901 John and Raymond Dennis finally founded the Dennis Bros. Ltd .

When Dennis Bros. Ltd was founded , production moved to a purpose-built factory on the corner of Onslow Street and Bridge Street in Guildford. The first motor vehicle left the factory in 1902. The first bus followed in 1903, then delivery vans and trucks and - as the company's most famous product - fire engines from 1908. Dennis vehicles - mainly fire engines - were exported worldwide, for example to Singapore , Athens , Brisbane , Barbados , Cairo , Penang , Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai . In 1907 the competitor Eagle Engineering from Warwick was bought, in 1919 the engine supplier White & Poppe .

Dennis Bros. Ltd manufactured ambulances and suction trucks for septic tanks from 1909 and garbage trucks from 1921 . During the two world wars, the company was fully involved in war production. More than 7,000 auxiliary vehicles were produced from 1914 to 1918. From 1939 to 1945 Churchill tanks, army trucks and chassis for the Lloyd Bren cannon were produced.

Economically stricken by strong competition in the late 1950s and 1960s, the company was taken over by the Hestair Group in 1972 and renamed Hestair Dennis . The company also focused its export business and won the Queen's Award for Export in 1977. In the late 1970s, Hestair Dennis successfully returned to national business. In 1985 it was renamed Dennis Specialist Vehicles . It was relocated to a new manufacturing facility on the Slyfield Industrial Estate in 1991.

In 1998 Dennis Brothers was taken over by Mayflower Corporation . A year later, Dennis Eagle was spun off and sold to NatWest Equity Partners . In 2000, Dennis Brothers became part of the TransBus International joint venture founded by Mayflower with Hanleys . After TransBus went bankrupt in 2004, it was bought by Alexander Dennis .

The company archive is now kept in the "Surrey History Center" and can also be viewed in parts online there.

vehicles

Car

emblem
Dennis tricycle, dated 1898 by the National Motorcycle Museum
Dennis from 1902
Dennis from 1902

In 1895 the first motor vehicle was created as the Speed ​​King , which was used for test purposes.

In addition to our own motors, built-in motors from Aster , De Dion-Bouton and White & Poppe were also used.

model construction time cylinder Cubic capacity cm³ comment
Speed ​​King 3½ HP 1895 1 Tricycle with two seats for experimental purposes, De Dion-Bouton engine
3 ½ HP 1899 1 402 De Dion-Bouton engine
8 HP and 9 HP 1901-1903 1 864 De Dion-Bouton engine
10 HP 1902 2 1399
12/14 HP and 14 HP 1902-1906 2 2251 and 2438 Aster engine
16/20 HP 1902-1904 4th 2676 Aster engine
14 HP 1905-1906 4th 2009 and 2438
20 HP 1904-1908 4th 3163 and 3686
24 HP and 24/30 HP 1906 4th 4675 and 4849
20/24 HP 1904 4th 3119
15 HP 1907 4th 3402
18/20 HP 1907 4th 3686
30/35 HP 1907 4th 5881 White & Poppe engine
35/40 HP 1908 4th 5881
8 HP 1909 4th 2497
24 HP 1909 4th 4562
28 HP 1909 4th 4942
40 HP 1909-1911 4th 6589
18 HP 1910-1911 4th 2799
24 HP 1910-1911 4th 4714
60 HP 1910-1911 6th 9889 only six-cylinder model
14 HP 1911 4th 2212
20 HP 1912 4th 3308
24 HP 1912-1915 4th 4084
15.9 HP 1913-1915 4th 2613
18 HP 1913-1915 4th 3308

A vehicle of this brand occasionally competes in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run .

buses

Single deck buses

Dennis built single- and double-decker buses before and during the First World War . The superstructures were placed on normal truck chassis . Dennis began the actual production of buses in 1926 with the Type E , a single-decker bus with a front engine. The chassis was the first that Dennis manufactured specifically for buses: the frame was lower than that of conventional truck models, which made it easier for passengers to get on. A gasoline engine with a displacement of 5.7 l was used . The vehicle had pneumatic tires . In 1929 the types ES and EV appeared .

From 1927 the types F and G were produced, also special bus chassis, which were designed as long-boned, in 1929 the variants FS and GL followed , from 1931 the GL was also available with an engine with overhead valves. The darts followed in 1930 , and the first Lancet appeared in 1932 . Until the 1930s, Dennis production was characterized by a high variety of types, but relatively small numbers of one type were produced. Within the individual types, there were still many variants with different wheelbases and payloads. In addition, the buses were often available with bodies from different manufacturers. The different types were produced in parallel. It was only with the Lance that Dennis came into the area of ​​larger quantities.

The Arrow appeared in 1936. Like all its predecessors, it had a front engine . The Ace , which appeared in 1934 and was also designed as a long-nosed truck, was designed as a smaller bus for routes with little demand. Dennis was able to sell larger numbers of them. In the same year the Mace ( M ajor Ace ) was also released. The Falcon and Pike were also front-engine buses that appeared before World War II .

After the end of the war, the production of single-deck buses at Dennis was only continued to a limited extent. Numerous types appeared, which were often only built in very small numbers. However, Dennis produced a large number of double-decker buses with the Loline until 1996, and between 1966 and 1976 the production of chassis and superstructures for buses at Dennis was almost completely suspended. With the Dominant and the Lancet UF , Dennis brought chassis on the market for the first time at the end of the 1950s, in which the engine was arranged under the floor. These were supplemented by the Pelican as a particularly light version. Stork and Heron were names for bus chassis that were built in small numbers between 1958 and 1960. The name Pax was given to a series of chassis types for minibuses that Dennis produced in very small numbers between 1964 and 1968. A series of 19 buses that were delivered to Kowloon Motor Bus in Hong Kong in 1959 also bore this name. The Pax was based on the current chassis of the Dennis truck of the same name. The name Dart was used again in the 1970s for a standard-size single-deck bus with a front engine, but only two copies were completed.

From 1981 to 1993 Dennis built the Falcon , a standard-size bus with a rear-mounted diesel engine. In addition to the regular bus, which was produced in large numbers, there were also some coaches and double-deckers.

The Falcon was replaced in 1991 by the Lance , which was also available as a low-floor version Lance SLF between 1993 and 1996 . Production of the Lance ended in 2000. With this bus, Dennis achieved larger numbers for the first time.

In the 1980s, Dennis used the name Lancet again for a lightweight underfloor chassis. Only 87 of the type were built, around a third of which was exported. The chassis were mostly built as coaches.

The Dennis Dorchester was a heavy touring coach that was built in small numbers between 1983 and 1988. A total of only 67 copies found a buyer.

The Dorchester was replaced by the Javelin , which was also to replace the Bedford -Y series, from 1986. Offered as a touring and city bus, it was unable to prevail against its rival Volvo B10M. Nevertheless, it was the most successful coach that Dennis ever produced. About 2500 vehicles were produced.

The Domino , released in 1985, was one of the first midibuses . Equipped with a supercharged turbo engine, automatic transmission and power steering, only 34 of the bus could be sold.

In 1988 Dennis brought out the dart , using the name again , of which the successor companies built the darts for eighteen years in different versions.

The R series , released in 1999, was Dennis' last independent development. The type was a coach chassis with a rear engine. But only 98 buses were still delivered.

  • Dennis 30cwt, built in 1931

  • Dennis GL

  • Dennis Dart

  • Dennis Lancet

  • Dennis Falcon

  • Dennis Lance

  • Dennis Javelin

  • Dennis Dart with Duple-Dartline construction

Double decker buses

With the H , published in 1928 , Dennis brought his first chassis specially designed for double-decker buses onto the market. The series was supplemented in 1929 by the HS and in 1930 by the HV . From H only 21 units were built.

In 1930 the successor of the H , the Lance, appeared . Equipped with an engine at the front, it has the appearance typical of British buses from the 1930s to 1950s with a half-sided (= narrow) driver's cab. On the one hand, this gave the driver a good all-round view and, on the other hand, made it easier to access the engine.

Between 1958 and 1967 Dennis built the Dennis Loline , a double decker bus based on the Bristol Lodekka . However, Dennis modified the chassis and partly built in other components. China Motor Bus in Hong Kong put the first Loline into service in 1963 , the bus was the first double-decker type to be used in what was then the British Crown Colony. After production of the Loline was discontinued, Dennis did not produce any more double-deckers for a while.

The return to this market succeeded in 1977 with the Jubilant , which had been specially designed for the Hong Kong market and was only used there. Dennis was able to sell 380 Jubilant .

Also in 1977 Denis brought out the Dominator . This bus was Dennis' first bus with a rear engine. After 1007 buses, production ended in 1996. The bus was used by various operators in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.

The three-axle Dragon , which was built from 1982 to 1999, was also specially developed for operation in Hong Kong . It was based on the frame of the Domiator , but received an additional, non-powered axle in front of the rear axle and was also offered with engines from Cummins . The bus could also be sold to Malawi and Kenya .

Between 1995 and 1998 Dennis manufactured the Arrow , a double-decker version of the Lance , which was also initially marketed as the double-deck Dennis Lance . Only 73 of this type could be sold.

The Arrow was replaced by the Trident 2 , Dennis' first low-floor double-decker bus. From 2001 the bus was called TransBus Trident , from 2004 Alexander Dennis Trident 2 . The bus engine is located under the floor on the right-hand side (right-hand drive for left-hand traffic ) between the axles. A three-axle version of the bus also appeared as the Trident 3 . This variant was specially developed for the Hong Kong market, but could also be exported to Canada , Singapore and the USA .

The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 emerged in 2005 from the further developed chassis of the Trident 2 .

  • Dennis Lance

  • Dennis Loline

  • Dennis Jubilant

  • Dennis Dominator

  • Dennis Dragon

  • Dennis Arrow

  • Dennis Trident 2

  • Dennis Trident 3

  • Alexander Dennis Enviro 400

commercial vehicles

  • Dennis-RR-B80-50A

literature

  • Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 1: A – F. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 . (English)
  • George Nick Georgano: Cars. Encyclopédie complète. 1885 à nos jours. Courtille, Paris 1975. (French)
  • David Culshaw, Peter Horrobin: The Complete Catalog of British Cars 1895-1975. Veloce Publishing PLC, Dorchester 1997, ISBN 1-874105-93-6 . (English)

Web links

Commons : Dennis  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Surrey County Council Archives ( February 22, 2014 memento in Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ THE BIG PROFILE: Colin Robertson, Alexander Dennis ( Memento from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ cwn.org.uk
  4. ↑ Completed acquisition by Alexander Dennis Limited of Transbus Ltd ( Memento from February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .