The Scott Motorcycle Company
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| 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,[1] Scott motorcycles were produced until 1978.[2]
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[edit] Development
A gifted engineer, Alfred Scott was a pioneer of the development of the two-stroke engine and after some experiments with one of his engines fitted to a Premier bicycle, Scott designed and patented a vertical twin two-stroke engine in 1904 and developed a complete motorcycle from scratch featuring a 450 cc two-stroke twin-cylinder engine mounted in a triangulated frame. Innovative features included a two-speed chain transmission in which the alternative ratios were selected by clutches operated by a rocking foot pedal and a kick start, which he is credited with inventing. 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 premises in Grosvenor Street Bradford.[1]
[edit] Pre-war competition success
While Scott's production machines were marketed as a kind of luxury "wheeled horse" for the Edwardian Gentleman,[3] there was valuable publicity to be had in competition success and the early Scott motorcycles were so powerful that they often easily beat four-stroke motorcycles of the same capacity. Event organisers deemed the Scotts to be "overly efficient", and penalised them by multiplying their cubic capacity by 1.32 for competitive purposes, which of course resulted in good (free) advertising for Scott.
Scott made several appearances at the Isle of Man TT Races between 1910 and 1914 with specially built racing machines.[4] In 1910 a Scott was the first two-stroke motorcycle ever to complete a full TT course under race conditions and in 1911 a Scott ridden by Frank Phillip gained the TT lap record of 50.11 mph (80.64 km/h) continuous average speed. This winning streak continued with Scott's being the fastest machines in 1912, 1913, and 1914 as well as winning the event in 1912 and 1913.
[edit] First World War
The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 halted production of civilian Scott motorcycles. Alfred Scott developed a three-wheeled machine gun carriage which was not taken up by the military and in 1919 he left the company he had founded to develop the vehicle for civilian use as the Scott Sociable. This did not prove to be as successful as the Scott motorcycle but Scott never returned to the Scott Motorcycle Company.
[edit] The Scott Squirrel
After the war production restarted with the 532 cc Standard Tourer and in 1922 Scott introduced the Squirrel, its first sporting model to be offered to the general public. This had a slightly smaller 486 cc engine to bring it within the 500 cc competition limit but, with aluminium pistons and careful preparation, it produced more power. In addition, many heavy accessories such as foot boards and leg shields which had been fitted to the touring models were dispensed with, making it a very light and competitive motorcycle. It was followed by the Super Squirrel, with a further revised engine of 498 cc or 596 cc, which was the mainstay of production in the mid-1920s. Although they never regained their pre-war form, Scotts continued to compete successfully in sporting events scoring a 3-4 in the 1922 TT and a third in 1924. A three-speed gearbox with conventional clutch was offered from 1923 and in this form the machine had some success as a trials motorcycle.[2]
[edit] Second World War
In 1935 the Scott Three cylinder motorcycle was launched as a water-cooled 750 cc in-line machine. This was superseded by the 1000 cc version and proved to be another example of innovative engineering by the Scott company. Neither made it into quantity production, however, due to the outbreak of the Second World War and the failing business finances.
[edit] The Flying Squirrel
Shortly after the end of the Second World War (1946/7) Scott relaunched the Scott Flying Squirrel. Available with 500 or 600 cc engines, these were even heavier than the pre-war versions and expensive for the performance offered. Sales were disappointing.
[edit] Birmingham Scotts
In 1950 the company went into liquidation and was acquired by Scott enthusiast Matt Holder's Aerco Jig and Tool Company in Birmingham. From his premises in St Mary's Row, Holder, who was an expert silversmith initially continued to build the same model from Shipley-made spare parts. These "Birmingham Scotts" remained available into the 1960s. In 1956 Holder began development of a 596 cc model with a duplex frame and telescopic fork front. When Matt's son David Holder moved the remaining stock to the former Triumph Motorcycles factory at Meriden he found that his father had accumulated a huge collection of original Scott parts, including Miller headlights and Burgess silencers. In 1958 the Birmingham Scott was updated by adding a swinging arm frame and the dynamo was replaced by an alternator. A new 493 cc motorcycle called the Scott Swift was announced but never went into production, although Holder continued to develop and produce one-off Scott motorcycles until 1978.[5]
[edit] The Bulmer workshop
Fabricator Brian Bulmer teamed up with two-stroke engine tuner Brian Wolley and rider Barrie Scully to develop a racing version of the Birmingham Scott air-cooled 350 cc twin, setting a record for the Barton Hill Climb and achieving 115.4 mph (185.7 km/h) in a Motor Cycling test. The team also developed a 52 bhp water-cooled 500 cc version, but competition from Japanese two-strokes meant that the project was not fully developed.[5]
[edit] Silk Scotts
The 1970s also saw the launch of the George Silk Scott. Based on the Birmingham engine, manufacturing rights prevented Silk Engineering from building copies of the engine so they designed their own. Effectively one-off bespoke motorcycles, only about 20 were produced in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with the last being made in 1975.
[edit] Stationary engines
In the 1930s Scott manufactured a number of stationary engines with the aim of raising funds following the decline in motorcycle sales. Some of these engines were derived from motorcycle units, for instance the DSE was a watercooled version of the Lightweight Squirrel engine and the SE had the same bore and stroke dimensions as the long stroke Flyers. The PA stationary engine however was different. Designed to meet a Ministry requirement for a portable electrical generator for the Bofors anti-aircraft gun and its Kerrison Predictor, it was produced during the Second World War by both Scott and its former partners Jowett.[6] It was air-cooled, petroil lubricated and featured a loop scavenge design with two opposed main transfer ports supplemented by a third "boost" port opposite the exhaust. This arrangement was patented by Scott in 1939,[7] but is often mistakenly believed to be of post-war origin as it was later widely adopted for motorcycle racing engines and power boats after its "reinvention" in the late 1950s by East German motorcycle manufacturer MZ.[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b De Cet, Mirco (2005). Quentin Daniel. ed. The Complete Encyclopedia of Classic Motorcycles. Rebo International. ISBN 978-90-366-1497-9.
- ^ a b Brown, Roland (1999). The History of British Bikes. Parragon. ISBN 0-75253-153-0.
- ^ Smith, Philip.H (1965). The High Speed Two-Stroke Petrol Engine. Foulis. p. 87.
- ^ Smith, Philip.H (1965). The High Speed Two-Stroke Petrol Engine. Foulis. pp. 87–91.
- ^ a b Reynolds, Jim (1990). Best of British Bikes. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-033-0.
- ^ Gallimore, Phillip (December 1983,Jan.1984&Feb.1988). Scott Stationary Engines, Stationary Engine Magazine issues 118,119 & 168. PPG.
- ^ "Patent for Improvements in or relating to the scavenging of the cylinders of two-stroke-cycle internal combustion engines". http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=GB&NR=512980&KC=&FT=E. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
- ^ Bossaglia, Cesare (1968). Two-Stroke High Performance Engine Design and Tuning pages 96 & 97. Lodgemark Press.
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