Deflector piston two-strokes
In principle, the two-stroke engine has been with us since circa 1880 as a practical proposition, and in the minds of a few engineers, for longer. Karl Benz patented a two-stroke design fuelled by town gas in 1880. A year later, Scottish engineer Dugald Clerk (some sources state ‘Clark’) unveiled a two-stroke design which used cylinder compression, and c1890/1 Englishman Joseph Day developed the crankcase scavenging system.
Although a few pioneer makers developed two-stroke type engines for motorcycle applications, none were that practical or efficient, until Alfred Angas Scott (1875-1923) went into production with his twin cylinder two-stroke design from 1908. Bradford-born Scott had helped his brother Arthur Forbes Scott build a two-stroke town gas engine for driving workshop machinery. This work, along with his interest in cycling and cycle development, encouraged him to begin the development of twin cylinder, two-stroke motorcycles.
Drawing on the work of earlier engineers including Clerk and Day, Scott incorporated cylinder and crankcase compression in his design. History suggests he built his first running twin cylinder two-stroke engine circa 1897/8. Soon, the small, 2hp unit was fixed to his everyday Premier cycle. Although much more development work would take place and initial material choice for components such as the cylinders was poor, the engine ran well enough to power the machine and Alfred’s cousin Frank Philipp (c1908 Alfred, Frank – as company secretary – and Eric Myers formed the Scott Engineering Company Ltd with Charles Scott and others providing capital) was one of
