Talk:Dugald Clerk

Clerk or Clark?
It appears that his name was Clerk not Clark. Needs to be looked into. see... http://deq.mt.gov/cleansnowmobile/montana/williford/FINALBU-02.htm http://www.iee.org/TheIEE/Locations/SEC/Famous/sts_c.cfm#DClerk --=Motorhead 18:27, 18 December 2005 (UTC)


 * It does indeed appear to be the case! See the Royal Society list of members. Andrewa 10:19, 21 December 2005 (UTC)


 * The article was created as a short untagged stub by an anon a year ago, under the name Clerk, and almost immediately moved to Clark by user:Uncle G. I've left him a message asking for his input on this. Andrewa 15:19, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

The text of the article submitted by the original author said "Clark", as do all of the references cited. The IEE entry that you point to was written in 2001, it says. The Royal Society says "Clerk", as does this document catalogue. But, on the other hand, ISBN 1892216248 says "Clark", as do this article, this article, this article that mentions the "Dugald Clark Bequest", and the manuscripts catalogue in the University of Glasgow. Of them all, the two catalogues seem to me to be the most reliable sources, because the manuscript and the journal paper are contemporary whereas the others are not. It's a shame that they contradict each other. ☺ Uncle G 17:03, 21 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Oho. Yes, the University of Glasgow archive is equally authoritative to the Royal Society membership list. Here's what I suspect: He spoke the auld tongue (as my kinsfolk in Scotland call it) or Scots (as others seem to call it) when in Scotland. Here's what we know: He was known by the name Clark in Glasgow and Clerk in London. The article should reflect this.


 * I don't think that naming conventions cover this, but I vote for keeping the Scots spelling (of course). Andrewa 09:05, 22 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I have added this info to the article. The sources still need to be added. Andrewa 09:04, 23 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I am new to Wiki editing so I hope I am following proper community protocol.

Sir Dugald Clerk is my great-grand-uncle. My mother is Muriel Valentine Clerk Benson and a great-niece of Sir Dugald. My mother's father, Donald Clerk, was Sir Dugald's nephew and was raised and supported by Sir Dugald like a son. (Sir Dugald had no children.) Both my mother (now 90 and entirely sentient) and her cousin Jean Currie (another great-niece of Sir Dugald's still living in Glasgow) both agree that it is Clerk and not Clark - even in Glasgow. It is the more unusual spelling of the Scots name.

The Royal Society uses Clerk. Britannica uses Clerk. It's hard to count but there seem to be more hits for "Clerk cycle" than "Clark cycle". And the company which Sir Dugald formed with George Marks was and is Marks & Clerk - a major intellectual property law firm. So at the least Clerk is what Sir Dugald chose to use most.

It's likely that Sir Dugald's name was frequently spelled with the common form (Clark) despite his preference. The Scots consider all the forms of that name to be the same name. As to Glasgow University perhaps it is to make filing and finding papers easier if the common form is used. To the old Scots the English spellings are all transliteration anyway.

I propose to edit the entry to correct the name and to add to the text a note that Clark is used by some sources but that Clerk was the form Sir Dugald used.

Terrybenson (talk) 02:51, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Size of engines
These engines were used mainly in ships and locomotives and were much larger than the modern design. I'm skeptical. By the modern design does the author mean lawn mower and motorcycle engines fueled by gasoline? There are also some very large modern two-stroke engines in ships and locomotives! Andrewa 01:55, 25 December 2005 (UTC)

This has I think now been addressed in the refactor of the Clark cycle section. Andrewa 20:59, 25 December 2005 (UTC)

This cycle is geometrically identical to the "Miller Cycle."

Theory work
Article needs to be expanded to include his very important theoretical work. Clerk is known for a lot more than just inventing the two-cycle engine. He's famous for work on thermodynamic experiments and was one of the first scientist to study fuel mixing ratios and the problem of getting maxiumum work from the combustion process. DonPMitchell (talk) 16:21, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Section: Clerk's engine vs modern two-stroke engine
Is the Nash mentioned here Lewis H. Nash? Biscuittin (talk) 00:46, 26 October 2015 (UTC)