1. Sir Dugald Clerk KBE, LLD FRS was a Scottish engineer who designed the world's first successful two-stroke engine in 1878 and patented it in England in 1881.
13 Facts About Dugald Clerk
1. 2.
Dugald Clerk was a graduate of Anderson's University in Glasgow, and Yorkshire College, Leeds.
3.
Dugald Clerk was born in Glasgow on 31 March 1854, the son of Donald Clerk a machinist and his wife, Martha Symington.
4.
Dugald Clerk died in Ewhurst, Surrey on 12 November 1932.
5.
Dugald Clerk decided to develop an engine using compression, but with the two-stroke cycle, as he could see benefit to weight and smoothness of operation through having twice as many power strokes.
6.
However it was not until the end of 1880 that he succeeded in producing the Dugald Clerk engine operating on the two-stroke cycle, which became the commercial product.
7.
Dugald Clerk was the author of three comprehensive books covering the development of the oil and gas engine from its early inception, and including details of his own work in this area.
8.
In "Gas and Oil Engines", Dugald Clerk refers to the significant earlier gas engine patents of Barnett in 1838 and Wright in 1833.
9.
In 1878 Dugald Clerk obtained a Brayton "Ready Motor" engine made from 1872 to 1876 by George Brayton in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US.
10.
Dugald Clerk wondered if he could improve the performance of the engine.
11.
Dugald Clerk soon outfitted the engine with a spark plug and an improved fuel system.
12.
Dugald Clerk quickly followed with his concept of a two-stroke engine of 1880, that would not infringe the Otto's patent.
13.
The Dugald Clerk engine uses automatic 'poppet' type valves for inlet air and gas, and a port in the cylinder uncovered by the piston for the exhaust valve.