The LK I and II are shown by many sources as powered by a Daimler 50 hp sleeve valve engine with forced water cooling and the Strid with a Daimler 55hp water cooled engine. Now I can find no record of Daimler in Germany making such engines. Daimler in Coventry made a 38hp sleeve valve engine that could be pushed to 50hp if running hot at near max revs. (If this engine was used in the LKII then one can see why forced water cooling would be needed). However this was an American design (from Knight an Kilbourne) and built by Daimler under licence. The terms of the licence restricted manufacture to the UK although there was no restriction on export (so Daimler GB could supply Daimler Germany with engines but Daimler Germany could not build them themselves). The original patents for the sleeve valve itself were held in America. Production in Britain started in late 1909. There would of course be no exports after the outbreak of war so one imagines that the stocks of such engines (if any) in Germany would be pretty low by 1918 not a good base for large scale production!
Daimler GB did produce a 50 hp engine, again not a Daimler design but from a Coventry company that Daimler took over, this pre-dated the sleeve valve design and by all accounts was heavy and cumbersome although they did persuade Edward VII to buy a special car engined with one. I can find no record of production being transferred to Germany and no record of a Daimler Germany 50hp engine. I can find no one making a 55 hp engine in the pre 1919 period.
Does anyone have any record of a Daimler Germany 50 hp sleeve valve engine or a 55 hp water cooled engine?
Hi Centurion, I would say that Horse power ratings are nominal, so an engine that under a normal load at a given revs say 2/3rds speed may produce 38hp and be rated at such or it could just as easily be the max output, this is the case with the Silent Knight engine rated at 38HP but was capable of sustaining 50HP+ for some considerable time......indeed some manufacturers might rate it at 55HP.....
Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft built the Mercedes Knight of 1910-1924 which featured Charles Yale Knight's sleeve-valve engine....... these engines were probarbly built at Untertürkheim, So its clear since it was bieng used in car produced throughout the war years that the engine should have been available in quantity for military use.....one other note the price the cars were sold for was based on the HP rating so it was in DMGs interest to rate the engine accordingly......55HP
Hi Centurion, it may be that some engines were supplied by Daimler in coventry however this doesnt account for a whole whack of other engines of different sizes used for the Mercedes Knight produced prior too and during the War years..
In 1910 DMG acquired the patents for the Knight Engine.. The 1912 model has a 65hp knight engine presumably developed by DMG.... However it does say after 1916 the only model in production had a 45hp engine...
All these were built by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft....
As far as I can tell the article on Wikipedia uses the following book as a source: Mercedes-Benz Personenwagen, 1886-1986 by Werner Oswald Hardcover: 638 pages Publisher: Motorbuch Verlag; 3. Aufl edition (1986) ISBN-10: 3613011336 ISBN-13: 978-3613011335