The Dennis A Type, often called the Dennis War Office Subsidy Type, was a British lorry built by the Dennis Brothers in the 1910s that saw widespread service with the militaries of the British Empire during the First World War. Upon the United States' entry into the war, a number were also supplied to the American Expeditionary Forces in France.

Design The A Type was a cab behind engine, rear-wheel-drive truck with a payload capacity of , it had a chassis length of and a gauge of , the bare chassis weighed . British Army's WD Pattern A Types were total length and wide.

Initially the A Type was powered by a Aster petrol engine, but was found to be underpowered so it was replaced by a 4-cylinder inline engine produced by White and Poppe. The early White and Poppe engine had a bore and stroke of and a displacement, later the engine bore was increased to increasing the displacement to and the power to . The A Type was driven through a four-speed transmission, leaf spring suspension, hand actuated drum brakes on the rear wheels and a foot actuated transmission brake. The A Type's worm final drive rear axle was considered particularly advanced for the period. It had a removable upper casing which contained the worm shaft, worm wheel, differential and bearings, all of which could be inspected and replaced without disturbing the chassis or removing the wheels. It had steel wheels fitted with solid rubber tyres, twin wheels at the rear.

History

Originally bicycle makers, in 1898 the Dennis brothers began motorising tricycles, in 1901 they produced their first motor car, in 1903 or 1904 they produced their first commercial vehicle and in 1908 they produced their first fire engine. In 1913 Dennis was listed as a public company and suspended production of passenger cars, instead concentrating on production of commercial vehicles including busses, fire engines and lorries.

That year Dennis introduced the A Type, first exhibiting it at the Commercial Vehicle Show at the Olympia Exhibition Centre. The A Type was designed by Dennis to comply with the War Office motor vehicle "subsidy scheme" requirements. In 1913 when the A Type was presented at a War Office trial for certification under the scheme, it failed, its original Aster engine being considered underpowered. Having re-engined the lorry with the more powerful White and Poppe engine, at the subsidy scheme trials held in early 1914 Dennis received certification for the A Type. The A Type was the last lorry to be certified before war was declared.

During the First World War, Dennis produced only two vehicle models, the A Type and the N Type fire engine. In 1915 the War Office took over direct control of Dennis for the duration of the War, and by the end of the conflict over 7,000 had been delivered. In military service, the Dennis A Type was found to have among the best performance of the British Subsidy Type lorries. Rated for payloads of , when fully loaded the A Type could climb gradients as steep as 1 in 6.

Upon their arrival in Europe in 1917, the British supplied the American Expeditionary Forces with a number of A Types. It is unknown how many A Types were supplied to the Americans, but it was likely hundreds.

Post-War, the British War Office auctioned off thousands of surplus military vehicles to the British public. Demobilised A Types proved popular with civilian operators. The A Type had considerable influence on post-War British lorry designs, and despite introducing new models, Dennis continued production of the A Type until 1926.

Dennis-Stevens Towards the end of the War, William Stevens of Tilling-Stevens parted company with Thomas Tilling, and joined Dennis. Stevens successfully mated his petrol-electric designs to the A Type, creating the Dennis-Stevens lorry. The War Office mounted large searchlights on the Dennis-Stevens, using the engine-driven generator to power the lamp. By the end of the War in 1918, 187 Dennis-Stevens searchlight carriers had been delivered to the War Office, 74 of which had been sent to France. After the War the Dennis-Stevens remained in production for some time as an easy to drive bus chassis.

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