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Sir Dugald Clerk
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Sir Dugald Clerk
Sir Dugald Clerk

Sir Dugald Clerk

Scottish engineer
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Quick Facts
Born:
March 31, 1854, Glasgow, Scot.
Died:
Nov. 12, 1932, Ewhurst, Surrey, Eng. (aged 78)
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Sir Dugald Clerk (born March 31, 1854, Glasgow, Scot.—died Nov. 12, 1932, Ewhurst, Surrey, Eng.) was a British engineer who invented the two-stroke Clerk cycle internal-combustion engine, widely used on light motorcycles and other small machines.

Clerk studied science at Andersonian College, Glasgow, and Yorkshire College, Leeds. He built a gas (hydrocarbon vapour) engine in 1876 and in 1881 patented his two-stroke engine. The principal difference between the Clerk cycle and the more common Otto cycle is that the Clerk cycle generates an ignition once every two strokes of the piston rather than once every four. Clerk also investigated extensively the properties and commercial uses of gas for heating and lighting.

Clerk, Sir Dugald
Clerk, Sir DugaldSir Dugald Clerk.

In 1916 Clerk, a director of the National Gas Engine Company, was appointed director of engineering research for the British Admiralty; he was knighted in 1917. The results of his research are published in part in his book The Gas, Petrol, and Oil Engine (vol. 1, 1909; vol. 2, 1913).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.