I have tried to reply 4 times now –
The SpeediBee was going to be Lockwood’s ultimate Chief. It was Finn T. Irgens baby. However Lockwood did not have the money to invest in such a radical departure from service motor norms and made the sale to Steve Briggs more attractive. Finn T. Irgens (Known to all as “Irgie”) had been corresponding with German motorcycle engineers who were the first to put roller bearings on the connecting rods. Lockwood, Elto, Johnson and Evinrude quickly followed suite. The Germans were at that time experimenting with Loop Charging, and when Evinrude gave the go ahead, the first three Speedibee prototypes were loop charged. Irgie’s main idea was to make the crankcase as tight as possible. Using one piece connecting rods eliminated the space needed to clear the connecting rod bolts. This resulted in a five piece crankshaft. The first prototype placed the full time rotary valve on the high cylinders (Starboard) front bypass port. It was found the port cylinder starved for fuel and on examination cracks were found in the alignment key slots in the crankshaft. A second rotary valve and carburetor was added to the port cylinder and the alignment keys were eliminated. In testing to failure the horsepower curve was almost a straight line. Culminating in a reading of 38 horsepower at over 8000 RPM when the engine blew up. For the third prototype a muffler was designed to limit top RPM to 6000. Top horse power was 29 at 5000 RPM. Dad pointed out the first thing a new owner would do was drill holes in the muffler. All this time costs were skyrocketing, and a switch was made to cross flow pistons for dependability. Irgie wrote a paper for the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) stating Loop charging was impractical for outboard motors. The fourth Prototype resulted in adding an auxiliary oiler and final proof of concept proved reliability and, at 28 put out more horse power than the Racing Speeditwin’s 26 at that time.
spell checker drives me crazy – more later
We’re hoping your “thoughts” on the Speedi Bee can get
past the Forum’s malfeasance!
Prepare to be boarded!