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00:03Four. Not bad.
00:06If you had to single out one machine and say that it formed the 20th century,
00:11it would have to be the internal combustion engine.
00:17Five. Coming on.
00:19And a manifestation of the internal combustion engine
00:24really did genuinely give power to the people.
00:26It's small, light. I believe I have one with me.
00:32There it is. The two-stroke engine.
00:35Two-strokes, that is, as opposed to the four-strokes
00:37that any self-respecting engine would have.
00:39That's what gives it its distinctive and, to my mind, horrible sound.
00:44This engine didn't so much turn the world as totally infested.
00:47And personally, I hate the buggers.
00:54One. Just enough.
01:09Unfortunately, there are plenty of other folk who just love the two-stroke engine to bits.
01:14In fact, I wish they would. Very little bits.
01:16Oh.
01:43Who would have thought
01:44that a hardy, industrial little engine
01:47born out of poverty and necessity
01:49would become the leisure engine
01:51of the latter part of the 20th century?
01:54An engine that gives pleasure
01:56gives pleasure to thousands
01:58and drives the rest of us completely bananas!
02:08Like all apparently simple inventions
02:10the genius of the two-stroke
02:12is its very inception.
02:14At a stroke, or rather two,
02:16it allows you to throw out three-quarters
02:17of the moving parts of a four-stroke engine.
02:20When the piston goes up to fire
02:23the vacuum inside here is used
02:25to draw fuel and air mixture
02:27through the carburetor here
02:28and when it comes back down
02:30it's now compressing all the air in here
02:33and that pressure is used to push the fuel up
02:36and onto the top of the piston.
02:37So the piston comes up and fires again
02:40and it just goes on and on and on.
02:43The simplicity of the two-stroke engine
02:45is much appreciated around these parts.
02:48In fact, here is where it can be said
02:50to have brought power to the people.
02:52In the dark days following World War II, the German economy was in a shambles and money,
02:57especially here behind the Iron Curtain, was tight.
03:00There was a desperate need to get industry kick-started,
03:03to rebuild and to get people moving
03:05and in the east they turned to the two-stroke.
03:11Slight sense of excitement and wonderment today
03:14because we're here at the shrine of the two-stroke,
03:19the Holly of Hollies.
03:20A car that has driven millions from A to B
03:24at very low cost
03:26and been the butt of every lousy comedian's terrible jokes for some years.
03:30Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you...
03:33the Trabant.
03:41And we're in the...
03:42Why don't you keep your big mouth shut department here?
03:44Because like a fool, I said,
03:45I could take the engine out of that.
03:47And the director, or the Fuhrer as we call him here,
03:51said, but why don't you, big boy?
03:53So, a piece of rubber, as we call it in the train.
03:59Right.
04:01Here we go.
04:02We'll have that off, I think.
04:05I think this was tightened up by the biggest man in East Germany.
04:12Good lord.
04:13Well, that's a lump, isn't it?
04:14Six volts, you know, six volts.
04:16In Britain, they have a completely different bolt size and everything to do with batteries.
04:22You have to have a complete set of spanners just for undoing batteries.
04:26Scheisse.
04:27Listen, don't knock the Trabi.
04:29It's reliable, efficient and costs about a third as much as your car to run.
04:33The entire car can be dismantled with five spanners.
04:37Maybe you're the sporting type or a chrome head.
04:41Every model comes completely fitted with an interior.
04:45There you go.
04:47Right.
04:47Now, bish posh, bish posh.
04:51Bloody hell.
04:53That should be just a bit hit, you know.
05:01Eins, zwei, drei.
05:02See ya.
05:06Oh, James, look at that.
05:09That's wonderful.
05:11God, man's ingenuity knows no bounds.
05:15Fantastic.
05:17There's your cylinders, you see?
05:19Two individual cylinders.
05:22Two individual manky cylinders.
05:25Fantastic.
05:25I wonder if people steal these engines.
05:27They're so easy to get out.
05:28I wonder if there's no gangs of teenage boys going round Leipzig with four spanners.
05:34Very dirty hands.
05:36Right then.
05:37I think it's about tea break time, boys, is it not?
05:42The new Germany seems to be trying to bury the old Trabi along with its recent past,
05:47and I think that's a shame.
05:48I mean, how many cars can you name that can do 60 miles to the gallon,
05:53need servicing once every two years,
05:55and have an engine that can be removed by any 20-stone artiste in less than 23 minutes?
06:00Of course, if you happen to be a macho speed freak,
06:03the Trabant may not be the car for you.
06:06No Cerebo.
06:07In the macho speed freak department,
06:09the two-stroke engine features in a very different machine developed in East Germany.
06:13What's more, it's the subject of a classic tale of Cold War espionage, intrigue and betrayal.
06:19The machine in question was developed in the 1950s and built here at the MZ factory in Chopper.
06:26You've got to hand it to the Germans.
06:28When it comes to efficiency allied to inventiveness, the history of engineering is littered with them.
06:34One such was MZ's chief engineer, Walter Carden.
06:37He spent ten years footering with the two-stroke engine and turned it from a lawn mower into the fastest
06:44motorbike in the world.
06:46His ingenious device, the harmonic expansion chamber, allowed much of the exhaust fumes to be ejected from the cylinder before
06:53the fresh air and the fuel mixture is pumped in.
06:55Ipso facto, more mixture, more power.
06:59In the early 60s, Walter Carden's MZs were cleaning up on the European Grand Prix circuit,
07:05and the opposition seemed unable to come up with anything to match the flying machines.
07:11It was Suzuki who finally solved the problem.
07:14They borrowed it.
07:16In a prearranged deal with the Japanese, Ernst Degner, the MZ's premier rider at the time, mysteriously disappeared halfway through
07:24the 1961 Swedish Grand Prix.
07:27In fact, Degner had established enough of a lead to be completely out of sight on the far side of
07:32the track,
07:33where he simply drove off a slip road and into the welcoming arms of the Suzuki rep.
07:38Ernst had also had the forethought to stuff his racing jacket with a complete set of the MZ's engineering specifications.
07:48Alan Shepard was there that day, riding for the MZ team.
07:52He can still remember what a body blow Degner's defection was for MZ, and for his friend Walter Carden in
07:58particular.
07:59Had Ernst Degner finished in the 1-2-5 race in the Swedish Grand Prix at Kristianstad,
08:05Walter would have got a first place in the motorcycle road race world championship.
08:12That man was dedicated, and he was an absolute genius.
08:17Although fundamentally, they've never improved on Carden's original designs,
08:21Japanese motorbikes have ruled the world ever since, and the Swedish Grand Prix signalled the beginning of the end
08:27for the German, American and British bike industries, as they all collapsed in the face of advancing Japanese technology.
08:35BSA did manage one very successful machine during this period, the beautiful little Bantam,
08:41so favoured by the postman of Britain, as I recall.
08:45BSA sold 400,000 of them, all equipped with a Walter Carden MZ engine.
08:52Meanwhile, back in East Germany, my spies told me there were still a few bikes from the original MZ factory
08:57to be found.
08:57My information led me to the back streets of Chemnitz.
09:04Oh, yes. Oh, please.
09:08Oh, that's lovely. Gosh.
09:10It's a DKW from 1927.
09:1327?
09:1427.
09:15God.
09:16The gearbox is from England.
09:19Oh, really? What's the gearbox of?
09:20Yes.
09:22And we have many problems with British gearboxes.
09:25Oh, I apologise on behalf of everybody in Britain.
09:28Were two-strokes quite common in the 20s, then? I thought they were quite rare, the two-strokes, you know?
09:34Two-strokes, yes.
09:35Yeah.
09:37A bit of a language problem here.
09:39He was obviously stalling. When I pressed him further, he reluctantly led me through the workshops and out the back.
09:50Yeah.
09:52Right.
09:56Attention in a small way.
09:59Yeah.
10:06Is this some initiation ceremony? Am I going to have to do a funny handshake?
10:13Down at the bottom of the garden.
10:16It's an old fire office here.
10:20Aha.
10:23Shame they haven't any spares, eh?
10:28Lordy.
10:35Lordy, lordy, yeah.
10:40So, and yours, it's our office.
10:58Oh, boy.
11:01And people think I do this for the money.
11:04Yes, yes, yes, yes.
11:05Many money.
11:07Are you sure you've got enough now?
11:10Lordy.
11:12This is...
11:13This is the bike.
11:14Yes, yes, this bike.
11:15It's near from Chemnitz, from Chobau.
11:19We can this bike, we can it.
11:21Yeah, let's go, let's do it.
11:22Okay, okay.
11:22Let's go.
11:23I must say I could spend a day in here looking around.
11:25Well, you, no, after you.
11:26Okay, okay.
11:28So, handsome bike.
11:30This one's gorgeous, as well.
11:32That's just...
11:34I could move in, you know.
11:37I just have my bed in the corner.
11:40Sad, isn't it?
11:46No, this one's a spring up.
11:50Behind the bike shed, he hastily whispered the directions to the MZ factory
11:54and wished me what I interpreted as good luck.
11:58Even as I left, I knew we'd never meet again.
12:01Oh, there you go.
12:06A fantastic noise.
12:21Good boy.
12:24When I finally found the MZ factory, it was empty and derelict.
12:31Well, there you go.
12:33Poor old MZ went the same way as a lot of them in the 60s.
12:36Norton, Triumph, AJS, Velocet, BSA, Francis Bonnet, Victoria...
12:52In the economic grimness of the post-war Eastern Bloc,
12:56the two-stroke engine brought cheap, efficient power to the people.
12:59But in the West, the emphasis was on pleasure.
13:08It was here in Italy that they came up with a use for the two-stroke
13:11that actually caught people's imagination.
13:15This is more like it.
13:17In fact, it's sold in the millions.
13:24What they did was take the two-stroke starter motor out of an airplane,
13:28bolted onto four foot of tubular steel, and call it a Vespa.
13:34But importantly, of course, it had to have the Italian style.
13:37It was futuristic, it was beautiful, and everybody wanted one.
13:44What's more, you didn't have to straddle it, so it saved the nun's modesty.
13:49Also, it didn't take the crease out of your trousers, very important,
13:53and flatter, you can still comb your hair.
13:59What's more, you don't have to straddle it, you don't have to straddle it.
14:06What's more, you don't have to straddle it, you don't have to straddle it.
14:06God bless them, they just can't help it.
14:14Oh, that I was three years younger.
14:27Meanwhile, in Britain, the fashion was for model making, and the two-stroke was just perfect.
14:33Here was an engine whose mechanical parts were so simple they could be reproduced in miniature,
14:38and they'd still work.
14:49Obviously, to service such an engine, one requires the hands of a fairy watchmaker.
14:55That is a cylinder, which is basically just a tube, and that is a piston,
14:58which is basically just a wee pot, which fits perfectly in.
15:01And this here is your connecting rod, so-called, because it connects your small end to your big end.
15:07The motion, which is a linear motion, which is just up and down and up and down,
15:10up and down, has to be turned into a circular motion to be any use.
15:13Bless you, my beautiful assistant.
15:16And the connecting rod connects onto a crank like this, and as you can see, this is what happens.
15:22The piston goes up and down and up and down,
15:25and that linear motion is turned into a circular motion by your crankshaft.
15:29I just thought you'd like to know.
15:36I love Sundays, don't you?
15:38The peace and the quiet, the tranquility of the loch.
15:42It's a perfect day for catching fish.
15:45Perhaps a spot of bird watching.
15:49Or just taking the helicopter for a walk.
15:57You know, what's the...
15:59Come around again, kid.
16:01It's the one with tiny ones that cause the annoying noise.
16:02Yeah.
16:03The reason the two-stroke engine makes such a delightful noise is that it does everything
16:08at twice normal speed.
16:10You get power with every second stroke of the piston, instead of every four.
16:15So you get lots of power out of smaller, lighter engines.
16:18That's why they run so fast.
16:20That's why they scream a lot.
16:22Right, I'm landing.
16:32I wonder if they supply a miniature vomit bag for the passengers as well.
16:38Fuel please, maestro.
16:40Right.
16:42Is this the smallest engine they make, Bill?
16:44There is a smaller one.
16:46This is a 0.02 cubic inch.
16:48There is a 0.01, which is actually half that size.
16:52Be careful when you pull that out, Bill.
16:54You'll get pulled off the street.
16:57That's for my wee motor.
16:58Honestly, officer.
17:01Okay.
17:02Just give it a couple of flicks over.
17:04Just to clear it's throat.
17:05Give me this throat.
17:07I like it.
17:08Well, that's you do it.
17:10Are you ready?
17:11Contra hit.
17:14That was the engine, by the way.
17:19Darn those curries.
17:36In the USA, they like their toys a little bigger.
17:46The two-stroke engine found its way into dirt bikes, micro lights,
17:50and frisky little beggars like the snowmobile.
17:53I'm only pretending to like it, by the way.
18:11I don't know.
18:12Northern California.
18:14Serious timber territory.
18:16They've been cutting down timber here since about the 1870s.
18:19And yet, it wasn't until the late 1920s
18:22that the mechanical engineers came up with an improvement on this.
18:26Which is what?
18:27A sharp dud of metal in the end of a stick.
18:34In 1926, an engineer came up with another use for the two-stroke engine
18:38that was to make life a lot easier for the loggers.
18:45And wouldn't you just know it?
18:47He was German.
18:50His name was Andreas Steele,
18:52and his contribution to the world was the chainsaw.
18:55The world has been on the run ever since.
19:05I think I've found the one justification for the two-stroke engine here.
19:09Because no matter how painful it may be to one's ecological sensitivities, man,
19:14we need wood.
19:15We can't do without it.
19:16Not unless you want to engulf the world in plastic.
19:21He's setting the mark that it's going to hit when it falls over.
19:24And it's two inches wide.
19:26Is that cool or what?
19:28Yeah, but we have to hit it.
19:32Yeah, put it right in front of that little tree.
19:40Normally, what we do, we try to gun the tree to a certain area so it doesn't destroy things.
19:45Plus, when you have other trees around, it knocks limbs out and can be dangerous.
19:48You want to avoid that.
19:49I mean, what roughly?
19:50Just as a rough guess, there's a tree that size way.
19:53Oh, man.
19:54What do you think?
19:55I have no idea.
19:56But it's heavy.
19:57It'll squish you like a bug if it gets hurt or anything.
19:59Can I shout timber, please?
20:01If you want to.
20:01I've always wanted to.
20:02When it starts to go?
20:03Yeah.
20:04You say timber and then run.
20:05All right.
20:06Okay.
20:07Just run.
20:08Right.
20:08Because one of those limbs will kill you.
20:09Excellent.
20:10Well, I'll be just over there.
20:11Okay.
20:12All right.
20:13Roll this ball, this thing.
20:25All right.
20:27All right.
20:30Okay.
20:31All right.
20:38All right.
20:40Can I get out?
20:41Yeah.
20:42That's one.
21:01Hey, Bert!
21:04Whoa!
21:13Good job
21:16So what happens if you take a two-stroke motorcycle engine add a Walter Carden expansion chamber and fit it
21:23through a chainsaw?
21:27It's called a hot saw and it's used in North American logging competitions
21:33Roland and Dennis are both champions of the art
21:46It's really a sporty chainsaw
21:54It would appear that the chainsaw is the only absolutely essential application of the two-stroke engine
22:01They do burn oil all the time and they're very high polluters in fact in in this state in California
22:07They're just about to be totally banned
22:08So that's something against them. Also. They make the most irritating noise in the world
22:13And me me me me me which I personally hate so on reflection. I still don't like them
22:23So there you have it well, it's all very glamorous and show-offy and smart Alec, but it's not really
22:28my kind of engineering
22:31No, I'm sorry. I think of no, it's my turn. No, I'm sorry. No, it's definitely my time
22:36This gives me no pleasure whatsoever. Yeah
22:56I think of a mission
22:58This doesn't give you no secret
22:59But it's totally unless you faithfully
22:59Oh I know
22:59But I'm over
23:31Transcription by CastingWords
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