Scott Motor Cycle Company

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Scott Motor Cycle Company shares dated March 19, 1920
Scott-TT-Replica from 1930/31
Scott “Flying Squirrel” from 1949 in the Neckarsulm two-wheeler museum

The Scott Motorcycle Co., Ltd. was an English motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1909 by Alfred Angas Scott in Bradford as the Scott Engineering Company . However, the company soon moved to Shipley . In 1966 the company in Birmingham was finally closed.

For decades, the manufacturer built only one single engine concept with great success : two-cylinder two- stroke engines with 333, 354, 498, 532 and finally 598 cm³ in counter- rotating twin arrangement. The crankshaft cranks were overhung, the flywheel and primary drive were in the middle. So the engines were quite compact. First, they were air-cooled, the production was soon on thermosiphon - water cooling (ie without water pump moved). The engines were installed in frames that were inclined forwards and consisted of straight (not curved) steel tubes and were therefore considered to be particularly torsion-resistant.

There were exceptions in the 1920s and 1930s, after Scott left the company in 1919, the company name (company) was changed and William Cull took over the management. There was an air-cooled single-cylinder two-stroke engine (1929) with 297 cm³, but also a water-cooled three-cylinder with 997 cm³.

In the mid-1930s, Scott saw market opportunities for small aircraft engines. This was justified with the success of the so-called sky louse. The air-cooled Scott A2S Flying Squirrel engine ("Flying Squirrel") was created from the motorcycle engine. About 70 engines were manufactured between 1935 and 1937.

In 1950 the company was liquidated after the rather simple engines had only been developed insignificantly since 1935 and could no longer keep pace with the increase in performance of their competitors. However, investors secured the brand and continued to produce on a small scale until 1966. In the 1970s, Scott's design principles were revived under the brand name Silk.

The machines were processed to be excellent and valued very powerful, but also quite expensive. The company's particular merit is the construction of a high-performance two-stroke engine, which was not inferior to the four-stroke engines of the time. It was considered a sensation that these two-stroke machines won the Isle of Man TT in 1912 and 1913 with Frank Applebee and Tim Wood respectively.

Even today, long after the brand was extinguished, old Scott machines are cherished and looked after by enthusiasts as " oldtimers ".

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