Box-type delivery tricycle, 1938.

Box tricycles were favoured by butchers and bakers for the delivery of food, and their use by these trades lasted well into the 20th century. In 1922 the first tricycle with an insulated box for retail sales of ice cream was designed by T Wall & Co, as an alternative to the horse-drawn float. The chairman of the company pedalled the prototype about the streets of Acton, Greater London, on test runs and it was an immediate succes. By 1939 there were nearly 10,000 on roads throughout Britain.