Question for electronics experts...

Have a look at the drawing posted at this URL:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/misc/kettering.jpg

Ignoring for the moment the text at the top of the diagram, and going
solely by the diagram itself, is this diagram depicting a starter system,
or an ignition system?

(BTW, the text in the middle of the diagram appears to read "Hyl tension").

I have a specific reason for asking this.

 

OK, what am I missing? The text on the secondary reads "high tension"
to me. This makes sense with a diagram of a battery connected to a
coil (primary), and some kind of disconnect. Make the circuit, current
flows in the primary, indcues a current in the secondary which has many
more coils (implied graphically by smaller, tighter coils) and creates a
high voltage, low current pulse in the secondary. So, part of an
ignition circuit. (Or a simplified ignition circuit.)
Dan

(This account is not used for email.)

 

An ignition system.
http://users.mrbean.net.au/~rover/ketterin.htm

 

(Dan Beaton) wrote in

You're not missin' nothin'.

This diagram is on page 255 of a Motor Trend "100th Anniversary of the
Automobile" book put out in 1985. It is on a page dedicated to the
Automatic Starter, as developed by C. F. Kettering in 1911. The tagline
calls the diagram "Kettering's original drawing for the patent for the
automatic starter".

The diagram appears to be the wrong one for that page.

This mistake is actually a good thing for me, as I wanted to include that
diagram (just for fun) in a new part of the FAQ having to do with the
ignition. I wanted definitive confirmation of my suspicion, which you and
John Ings have just provided, so thanks to both of you.

 

Yup. Good page. I'm going to link that page in the FAQ.

Thanks to that site, I now finally understand the exact role of the
condenser in the Kettering system.

 

It appears to be an ignition system. It is a simplified diagram for firing
the spark plug.

 

That is a drawing of a basic points type spark ignition system.

The text is high tension, as in the high voltage side of the circuit.

John

 

I agree. The drawing and text are of the original Kettering ignition.
Has nothing to do with a starter system.

 

This diagram is on page 255 of a Motor Trend "100th Anniversary of the
Automobile" book put out in 1985. It is on a page dedicated to the
Automatic Starter, as developed by C. F. Kettering in 1911. The tagline
calls the diagram "Kettering's original drawing for the patent for the
automatic starter".

The diagram appears to be the wrong one for that page.

This mistake is actually a good thing for me, as I wanted to include that
diagram (just for fun) in a new part of the FAQ having to do with the
ignition. I wanted definitive confirmation of my suspicion, which every
reply here has supplied. Thanks to all.