Another Thornycroft

[BenHawkins]

8 minutes ago, Tomo.T said:

The ASC (Army Service Corps ) No. was an early means of registering military kit, including vehicles. The system did not work in practice and there were many duplicate no's issued. The whole system was scrapped in early 1915 and replaced by WD ' bonnet ' No's.

Thanks Tomo, I thought that was probably the case but didn't want to jump to conclusions.

[BenHawkins]

I have these lamp brackets, the sidelamp bracket is quite similar to those in photos but only uses two bolts to mount to the bulkhead. My chassis is not drilled for headlamp brackets.

 

These hand controls don't quite match the parts book either but could certainly be used if nothing else turns up.

[BenHawkins]

We are slowly collecting parts and information for this project. The Thornycroft BT with T4 engine was not made in large numbers and shares very few parts with the post-WWI model (although the three speed gearbox appears to have been kept for a few years before the (very different) four speed gearbox was adopted. I identified this negative on eBay as being the same model so purchased it.

According to the Thornycroft records this BT Box van was chassis number 1806 and fitted with engine T4-458.

Period photos can be just as useful to restorations as the parts books and drawings. 

[BenHawkins]

I found this picture of the odometer used on the early Thornycroft BT. It appears to have a plate that swings over the number to protect them.

[Doc]

Yes, I know I should be working right now but this just arrived in the post.

It's a magic lantern slide from our favorite online auction site. 

[Old Bill]

That's a big lump of iron to hold a little engine down! Nice pic though.

Steve   🙂

[andypugh]

I am trying to decide if it's a generator set, or an engine under test on a dynamometer. It looks more like the former, but the scale of the base might point to the latter. 

 

[Doc]

29 minutes ago, andypugh said:

I am trying to decide if it's a generator set, or an engine under test on a dynamometer. It looks more like the former, but the scale of the base might point to the latter. 

 

To my mind it is the same generator (without the radiator of course) identified as a potential engine donor on page 4 of this thread.

[flandersflyer]

On 3/23/2023 at 1:53 PM, andypugh said:

I am trying to decide if it's a generator set, or an engine under test on a dynamometer. It looks more like the former, but the scale of the base might point to the latter. 

 

Dynomometer test as i doubt that engine would have the capacity to swing a generator that size at the speed required to provide any useable power...

Plus the bed shows evidence of having various pads and mounts for other stuff...

Edited March 26, 2023 by flandersflyer

[BenHawkins]

On 3/23/2023 at 12:02 PM, Doc said:

Yes, I know I should be working right now but this just arrived in the post.

Thanks for that fantastic photo, it appears to be identical to the generating set I have. We have not found that much information on them, but amongst other things they appear to have been used as search light generators.

The 6' long cast iron base is really heavy, if mine had come with the dynamo, the 1 ton payload trailer would certainly have been over weight.

I have not confirmed the capacity of the engine yet but it would appear to be at least 3" bore and 4" stroke. The T4 engine fitted to my vehicle originally was 3-1/2" bore and 5-1/2" stroke. Both engines were compact as a result of using only 2 main bearings so the cylinders can be close together. The T4 cylinder block was only around 16" long, the Simplex is 15-1/2". The bonnet is fairly short on the BT chassis so there isn't enough space for a larger engine.

The axle ratio is about 7.75:1, so combined with the 32" OD tyres (when new) it should be OK even if the engine turns out to be a little smaller than the T45.