The Scott Motorcycle Company
 |
|
| Fate | Voluntary liquidation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1908 |
| Defunct | 1969 |
| Headquarters | Bradford, West Yorkshire, England |
|
Key people
|
Alfred Angas Scott |
| Products | Motorcycles |
The Scott Motorcycle Company was owned by Scott Motors (Saltaire) Limited, Shipley, West Yorkshire, England and was a well-known producer of motorcycles and light engines for industry. Founded by Alfred Angas Scott in 1908 as the Scott Engineering Company in Bradford, Yorkshire, Scott motorcycles were produced until 1978.
In an article in Motor Cycle magazine in 1914, Alfred Scott wrote that he was drawn to the two-stroke engine because he was trained on high speed steam and marine engines, and when turning his attention to gas and petrol engines the regular power strokes of the two-stroke (or Day cycle as he sometimes called it), seemed preferable to the one power stroke in four of the Otto cycle. He said this attraction to the two stroke was further enhanced by the reliable and excellent service from a two stroke engine designed by his brother (A. F. Scott M.I.M.E) and used to drive machinery in his experimental workshop.
Scott's first experiments with a two-stroke were in a motor boat, where he was able to make tests and obtain 'diagrams' under working conditions. His first attempt at a motor cycle was fitting an engine of his own design to a Premier bicycle in 1901. This twin cylinder engine had steel cylinders with shrunk on aluminium radiator 'flanges', and drove the front wheel via friction directly to the tyre. He described the drive system as 'useless in the wet', and he could not prevent the cylinders from scoring. His next engine had cast iron cylinders of 2 1/4" bore, and eventually drove by belt to clutch countershaft and then by chain to the rear wheel. Various ingenious ignition arrangements were used including link work driven by a pin placed mid-way on the connecting rod. In parallel to this he continued work on a 4" bore, 4" stroke marine engine which developed 10HP at 800rpm, fitted with a large water-cooled brake wheel (a dynamometer). By recording brake and indicator readings he was able to experiment with port shapes and piston shapes, developing the 'curved top' (deflector) piston.
Scott designed and patented a vertical twin two-stroke engine in 1904, and patented the familiar Scott motorcycle frame in 1908 designed to accept an engine of the type in the former patent and to achieve a low centre of gravity. The resulting motorcycle was launched in 1908 featuring a 450 cc two-stroke twin-cylinder water-cooled engine. Innovative features included a patented two-speed chain transmission in which the alternative ratios were selected by clutches operated by a rocking foot pedal and a kick start also patented. The first few machines to his design were produced by Bradford based car firm Jowett in 1908 and soon after he set up as a manufacturer in his own right at the Mornington Works, Grosvenor Road, Bradford.
...
Wikipedia