Two-Stroke Flashback

Some Details of the Loyd-Lord Car

So much curiosity is being displayed at the present time in engines operating on the two-stroke cycle, that there is interest in recalling the Loyd-Lord — one of the most ambitious of two-stroke cars. Announced at Showtime in 1928, the Loyd-Lord was the product of Loyd-Lord, Ltd., of Chiswick. Two and 4-cylinder models were built, the basic construction being the same in each case. The engines employed crankcase compression of a rather unusual kind. The crankshaft had wide disc webs, which had a negligible clearance in the circular-section crankcase. Between two of the cylinders the crankshaft carried a hollow brass casting, which served to admit mixture from the carburetter through a port which communicated with the crank discs. Each crank disc had a cut-away portion, and when this came into line with the port in the casting, mixture entered the appropriate cylinder beneath the rising piston. Later a transfer port was uncovered by the piston and the mixture reached the combustion chamber in the normal manner. Thus, not only were the crank discs employed as valves, but at high engine speeds it was claimed that a degree of supercharge was imparted by the rotating pockets in the discs. The big-ends were roller-bearing, on narrow crankpins, and the main bearings were double-row roller races. The piston crowns were domed and the head-shape corresponded very closely, to eliminate eddying and give a high compression ratio.

Accessibility was carefully studied and, to enable the pistons to be removed without dismantling the base of the engine, the gudgeon pins were mounted in a steel jaw which had a threaded extension piece. This extension screwed into a vertical hole in the piston and was locked by a nut and split pin recessed in the piston crown. The 4-cylinder engine had a watercooled jacket and separate, detachable, air-cooled light-alloy heads to each cylinder, each head carrying a central sparking plug and having many deep, lateral ribs. For this engine two Zenith carburetters were mounted low down on the near side. A whittle belt drove a four-bladed fan, and the dynamo and combined Philbrin distributor for the coil ignition were gear-driven and on the off side.

The 2-cylinder in-line engine had a bore and stroke of 92 by 82 mm. and gave 32 b.h.p. at 3,200 r.p.m. The 4-cylinder engine was of 87.5 by 83.5 mm., rated at 18 h.p., but claimed to develop 60 b.h.p. There was also another 4-cylinder apart from the “18/60” — the “14/30” of 75 by 120 mm. (2,121 c.c.). In unit with the engine in every ease was the clutch and gearbox, single disc on the 2-cylinder and “18/60,” cone on the “14/30” and 3-speed on the small car and 4-speed on the larger models, respectively. Final drive was by spiral bevel and suspension by 1/2-elliptic springs. The 4-cylinder cars had expanding brakes on all wheels. The rear spring mounting was a rod above the axle, carried on a bracket bolted to the axle casing at the inner end and forming a pivot for the brake shoes at the other extremity. No brake back-plates appear to have been used. The 2-cylinder model had a transmission foot brake and hand-operated rear brakes, and all models had a r.h. gear lever. The 2-cylinder had an 8-ft. 6-in, wheelbase, a track of 4 ft. and its steel wheels carried 26-in. by 3-in. covers. The “18/60” had a wheelbase of 10 ft. 6 in., a track of 4 ft. 8 in. and used 820 by 120 Dunlop Cord tyres on centre-lock wire wheels. The “14/30” had 765 by 105 tyres on steel wheels, and whereas this and the “18/60” had Midgley lighting and starting, the 2-cylinder had Lucas electrics. The “14/30” had magneto ignition and the others Philbrin coil.

For the 1923 Olympia a Cadogan open tourer was prepared for the “18/60” chassis, finished in white with green upholstery, and seating three on each of its seats. It could be mistaken, at all events from photographs, for a Bentley or, perhaps, a Straker Squire Six. The 2-cylinder was exhibited with a fire-engine-red 2-seater body by the Weybridge Engineering Co. The “18/60” chassis cost £500 and the tourer £650, the “14/30” chassis £385 and the 2-seater £490, and the 2-cylinder 2-seater £187 10s.

Apparently the makers believed in the publicity value of racing, for S. Cockrell and V. J. Loyd entered a 69 by 120 mm. (1,795 c.c.) Loyd-Lord for the 75 m.p.h. handicaps at the 1923 August Brooklands meeting. Certainly this was a most interesting example of the two-stroke car, and one wonders whether one still exists anywhere to-day.