Crossley Motors, based in Manchester, England, produced approximately 19,000 high quality cars from 1904 until 1938, 5,500 buses from 1926 until 1958 and 21,000 goods and military vehicles from 1914 to 1945. Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough within Greater Manchester in North West England. ...

The Crossley Motors logo

Image File history File links Crossley_logo. ... Image File history File links Crossley_logo. ...

History

Crossley Brothers

A Crossley 4.5hp engine from 1910

Crossley Brothers was set up in 1867 by Francis (1839 - 1897) and William (Sir William from 1909) (1844 - 1911). Francis, with help from his uncle, bought the engineering business of John M Dunlop at Great Marlborough Street in Manchester city centre, including manufacturing pumps, presses, and small steam engines. William joined his brother shortly after the purchase. The company name was initially changed to Crossley Brothers and Dunlop. Each of the brothers had served engineering apprenticeships: Francis, known as Frank, at Robert Stephenson; and William at W G Armstrongs, both in Newcastle upon Tyne. William concentrated on the business side, Frank provided the engineering expertise. Image File history File links Crossley_engine. ... Image File history File links Crossley_engine. ... Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough within Greater Manchester in North West England. ... Engineering is the application of scientific or mathematical principles with due reference to economics, society and environment to develop solutions to technical problems, creating products, facilities, and structures that are useful to people. ... This article is about a city in the United Kingdom. ...

The brothers were committed Christians and strictly teetotal, refusing to supply their products to companies such as breweries, whom they did not approve of. They adopted the early Christian symbol of the Coptic Cross (Coptic Christianity) as the emblem to use on their road vehicles. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Christianity. ... Teetotalism is the principle or practice of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Christianity. ... Jesus Christ in a Coptic icon. ...

In 1869 they had the foresight to acquire the UK and world (except German) rights to the patents of Otto and Langden of Cologne for the new gas fuelled atmospheric internal combustion engine and in 1876 these rights were extended to the famous Otto four-stroke cycle engine. The change over to four stroke engines was remarkably rapid with the last atmospheric engines being made in 1877. The four-stroke cycle of an internal combustion engine is the cycle most commonly used for automotive and industrial purposes today (cars and trucks, electrical generators, etc). ...

The business flourished. In 1881, Crossley Brothers became a private limited company, and then, in 1882, it moved to larger premises in Pottery Lane, Openshaw, in east Manchester. Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough within Greater Manchester in North West England. ...

Further technical improvements also followed, including the introduction of poppet valves and the hot-tube ignitor in 1888 and the introduction of the carburetor, allowing volatile liquid fuels to be used. A poppet valve is a valve consisting of a hole, usually round or oval, and a tapered plug, usually a disk shape on the end of a shaft also called a valve stem. ... A hot-tube ignitor was an early device that fit onto the cylinder head of an internal-combustion engine and ignites the compressed fuel/air mixture by means of a flame heating part of the tube red hot. ... Bendix-Technico (Stromberg) 1-barrel downdraft carburetor model BXUV-3, with nomenclature The carburetor, carburettor, or carburetter (see spelling differences), also called carb (in North America) or carbie (chiefly in Australia) for short, is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. ...

By adopting the heavier fuelled "Oil" engine, the first one being demonstrated in 1891, the companies future was assured. Then in 1896, they obtained rights to the Diesel system, which used the heat of compression alone to ignite the fuel. Their first diesel was built in 1898. Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (1858-1913), inventor of the Diesel engine. ... 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

By the turn of the century, there was also some production of petrol engines, and from 1901 these engines were finding their way into road vehicles, including, in 1905, Leyland buses. Gasoline, as it is known in North America, or petrol, in many Commonwealth countries (sometimes also called motor spirit) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Leyland Motors is a British vehicle manufacturer of lorries and buses. ...

A major contribution to manufacturing was the introduction of the assembly line. The Crossley system even influenced Henry Ford, who visited Pottery Lane at the turn of the century. 1913 Ford Model T assembly line. ... Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ...

Crossley Motors

Crossley Motors Ltd was first registered on the 11th April 1906 (and re-registered with a different company number in 1910) as the vehicle manufacturing arm of Crossley Brothers. The first car was actually built in 1904, but clearly the parent company saw a future for these new machines and decided a separate company was required. Originally based in the main factory in 1907 they moved to a nearby site they owned in Napier Street, Gorton, Manchester. (Napier Street was later changed to Crossley Street). 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Gorton is a district in Manchester, United Kingdom, to the south-east of the city centre. ...

With the steady increase in vehicle production, the limits of the Gorton site were again soon reached, and in 1914 a further 48 acre (194,000 m²) site was bought in Heaton Chapel, Stockport which became the Errwood Park Works. Construction of the new factory started in 1915, and although intended to relieve congestion on the old site, it was rapidly given over to war work. The western half the site, built in 1917, but only managed by the Crossley Motors, became National Aircraft Factory No 2. In 1919, this factory was bought from the government and became the Willys Overland Crossley plant, but was eventually sold to Fairey Aviation in 1934. In 1938, the eastern side became another aircraft factory, this time managed by Fairey, and after the second world war, became the final home of Crossley Motors. Re-armament work caused the search for more space and in 1938 a factory was opened in Greencroft Mill,Hyde about 3 miles east of Errwood Park. Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Willys Overland Crossley was a company jointly owned by Crossley Motors and Willys-Overland. ... The Fairey Aviation Company, Ltd was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Heyes (Middlesex) and Heaton Chapel/Ringway in Greater Manchester. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Hyde refers to: // Persons named Hyde Last name Hyde Anne Hyde (1637–1671), English noblewoman, mother of two British queens, Mary II and Anne Arthur M. Hyde (1877–1947), American politician, Governor of Missouri, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture DeWitt S. Hyde (1909–1987), American politician, congressman from Maryland (1953...

In 1920 Crossley Motors bought the nearby A V Roe and Company better known as Avro. They had to sell the company to Armstrong Siddeley in 1928 to pay for the losses incurred in Willys-Overland-Crossley. Avro 504K. Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, well known for planes such as the Avro Lancaster which served in World War II. One of the worlds first aircraft builders, A.V.Roe and Company was established at Brownsfield Mills, Manchester, England by Alliot Verdon Roe and his brother... The Armstrong-Siddeley automobiles (and later aircraft engines) were an English marque manufactured from 1919 (after the company was formed in 1917 by a merger between two Coventry_based companies, Armstrong-Whitworth and Siddeley-Deasy) to 1960. ...

As the market for hand made cars began to disappear in the late 1920s the company moved into the bus market and launched its first model, the Eagle in 1928. The last cars were made in 1937 but by then in addition to buses there was large production of military vehicles as part of the re-armament process. 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

After World War 2 there was a boom in the bus industry as war time losses needed to be replaced. Crossley won what was then the largest ever British export order for buses with a contract with the Dutch government. By the late 1940s bus orders were decreasing and it became clear that the company was too small to continue as an independent manufacturer and in 1948 they were sold to AEC. The last chassis was made in 1951 but body production continued at Erwood Park until 1958. AEC was a United Kingdom based vehicle manufacturer which built buses and trucks from 1912 until 1979. ...

Although not trading the company was never formally wound up and in 1969 AEC's new owner, British Leyland, restarted the company with a new name, Leyland National, and production of single decker buses recommenced. The British Leyland Motor Corporation (often abbreviated to simply BL), was a Britain in 1968. ... Leyland National operation of London Buses route 110 in 1976 The Leyland National was a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. ...

Crossley Premier

In 1919 Crossley Brothers bought Premier Gas Engines of Sandiacre, Nottingham, who built very large engines, and in 1935 changed their name to Crossley Premier Engines Ltd. The Nottingham factory was expanded, and production continued there until 1966. Location within the British Isles Sandiacre is a town in Erewash district, Derbyshire, England. ... Nottingham is a city (and county town of Nottinghamshire) in the East Midlands of England. ...

By the 1960s, although sales remained reasonable, the company had moved into the red. The design of the engines then being made was essentially 40 years old, so in 1962 agreement was reached to use the French Pielstick design. Production of these engines, intended for ships, railway locomotives and electricity generation, was initially carried out at Nottingham. But, before the engines could become established, the money ran out and the company had to call in the receivers. A purchaser was found in Bellis, and Morcom Ltd. but the name Crossley-Premier was kept. SEMT Pielstick is a French diesel engine manufacturer based at Villepinte, France and owned by MAN B&W Diesel, a subsidiary of MAN AG (MTU has a minority shareholding of 33%). SEMT Pielstick was formed in 1988 when the business was acquired from GEC Alsthom by MAN and MTU, originally...

The market for engines was continuing to shrink, and in 1968 the new company joined the Amalgamated Power Engineering (APE) group and the name became APE-Crossley Ltd. For the first time the new company used the Coptic Cross (Coptic Christianity) logo on the engines. Previously,it only appeared on Crossley Motors products - the rights to use it had to be bought from British Leyland. APE, in its turn, became part of Northern Engineering Industries (NEI), and the company name became the unwieldy NEI-Allen Limited - Crossley Engines. Jesus Christ in a Coptic icon. ... The British Leyland Motor Corporation (often abbreviated to simply BL), was a Britain in 1968. ...

Rolls-Royce Power Engineering

NEI themselves, in 1988, were taken over by Rolls Royce plc, and the company became part of the Allen Power Engineering - Crossley Engines division of the Rolls-Royce Industrial Power Group. This, in turn, became Crossley Engines division of Rolls-Royce Power Engineering, continuing to produce the Crossley-Pielstick range until 1995. Rolls-Royce plc (also known as Rolls-Royce Aero Engines) is the second-largest aircraft engine maker in the world, behind General Electrics GE Aircraft Engines division. ...

Today, engines are still being made (assembled from parts made elsewhere in the group) at the Pottery Lane factory, now known as Crossley Works. Crossley employs 80 people for assembly. Rolls-Royce still markets the Crossley-Pielstick range.

Over the years, more than 100,000 Crossley oil and gas engines have been built; and, as a testament to their quality, many are still in use today.

Vehicle Production

Cars

• 22 hp 1904-1908
• 40 hp 1905-1910
• 15 hp 1909-1915
• Shelsley sports 1909-1915
• 20/25 1909-1919
• 25/30 1918-1925
• 19.6 hp 1921-1926
• 14 hp and 15/30 1922-1927
• Crossley-Bugatti 1923-1925
• 20/70 sports 1922-1926
• 18/50 1925-1927
• 20.9 hp 1927-1931
• 15.7 hp 1928-1931
• Golden 1930-1935
• Silver 1930-1934
• Ten 1931-1934
• Streamline 1933
• Sports Saloon 1934-1937
• Regis 1935-1937

Buses

• Eagle 1928-1930
• Hawk 1929
• Six/Alpha 1930-1931
• Condor 1930-1934
• Mancunian 1933-1940
• TDD4 (Trolleybus) 1935-1942
• TDD6 (Trolleybus) 1935-1942
• DD42 1942-1953
• SD42 1946-1952
• PT42 1946-1949
• TDD42 Empire (Trolleybus) 1948-1951
• TDD64 Dominion (Trolleybus) 1948-1951

Military Vehicles

• 20/25 1912-1920
• BGT 1923
• IGL 4 wheel 1923-1926
• IGL 6 wheel 1927-1931
• BGV 1927-1929
• IGA Armoured car 1928-1929
• FWD 1940-1945

Commercial Vehicles

• 15cwt van 1913
• 14 hp van 1925
• 15cwt 1927
• Atlas 1931
• Beta 1933
• Delta 1931-1937

Diesel engines

Crossley Brothers built diesel engines for marine and locomotive use. Examples include the HST V8, used in the British Rail Class 28 and the ESNT 6, used in British Railways shunters D3117-D3122. Both were Two stroke engines equipped with Crossley's system of "exhaust-pulse pressure-charging" whereby surplus air in the exhaust manifold was forced back into the cylinder by the exhaust-pulse from a neighbouring cylinder. British Rails Class 28 diesel locomotives or as they were usually known Metrovicks were built as part of the early modernisation plan. ... The two-stroke cycle of an internal combustion engine differs from the more common four-stroke cycle by having only two strokes (linear movements of the piston) instead of four, although the same four operations (intake, compression, power, exhaust) still occur. ...

Trivia

• Two Crossley BGT1 trucks were in 1924 to 1926 the first vehicles to be driven from Cape Town to Cairo by the Court-Treatt expedition.
• Crossley were the first British Car Company to offer a factory fitted car radio (to the 1933 10 hp).
• Crossley supplied the first vehicles to London's Metropolitan Police Flying Squad in 1920.

(Other meanings: a union flying squad is a subset of a labor union) The Flying Squad is a branch of Londons Metropolitan Police force. ...

References

• 'Crossley' Authors - Michael Eyre, Chris Heaps and Alan Townsin (ISBN 0-86093-574-4) OPC 2002

External links

• Crossley Motors website