History
Firing the gap of a spark plug, particularly in the combustion chamber of a high-compression engine, requires a greater voltage (or higher tension) than can be achieved by a simple magneto. The high-tension magneto combines an alternating current magneto generator and a transformer. A high current at low voltage is generated by the magneto, then transformed to a high voltage (even though this is now a far smaller current) by the transformer.
The first person to develop the idea of a high-tension magneto was Andre Boudeville, but his design omitted a condenser (capacitor); Frederick Richard Simms in partnership with Robert Bosch were the first to develop a practical high-tension magneto.
Magneto ignition was introduced on the 1899 Daimler Phönix. This was followed by Benz, Mors, Turcat-Mery, and Nesseldorf, and soon was used on most cars up until about 1918 in both low voltage (voltage for secondary coils to fire the spark plugs) and high voltage magnetos (to fire the spark plug directly, similar to coil ignitions, introduced by Bosch in 1903).
Read more about this topic: Ignition Magneto
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Don’t you realize that this is a new empire? Why, folks, there’s never been anything like this since creation. Creation, huh, that took six days, this was done in one. History made in an hour. Why it’s a miracle out of the Old Testament!”
—Howard Estabrook (1884–1978)
“Certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moment’s comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and heroism displayed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The history of our era is the nauseating and repulsive history of the crucifixion of the procreative body for the glorification of the spirit.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)