From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Technical report discussing the advantages and disadvantages of magneto versus battery ignition systems.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 37\1\ scan 126 | |
| Date | 9th September 1921 | |
| To Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} from Pt. - 2 - Pt14/HP19-9-21. 2 Small St, Sydney. reputation suffers in consequence. The only point which I can see can be urged against the magneto is perhaps indifferent slow running, particularly when the spark plug is placed in the best position for power, but surely this could be overcome by using a larger magneto, or a magneto of the impulse type, or perhaps boosting up permanent magnets by electrical winding just for starting and slow running. I recognise that the last suggestion necessitates the use of battery, but the absence of the latter would not prevent the car being started. Another point against the battery is the difficulty of charging same in this country where nearly all electrical light circuits are alternating current. It is too much to expect that every man who owns a car will be prepared to buy a rectifier in order to enable him to keep his battery charged from the town mains. Away back in the country, of course, there is no means whatever (in most cases) of re-charging batteries. Batteries are frequently placed underneath the cushions of the seats, and a danger arises from this practice owing to tools, spanners, etc. falling across the terminals, of same, thereby shorting them. Another point against the battery is that if the car is used much for city work, involving frequent starts, using the self-starter, the battery becomes run down, and the engine sluggish, and under these circumstances there is never sufficient running for protracted periods to enable the dynamo to re-charge the battery, consequently same has to be removed and the car put out of commission whilst the re-charging process is going on, which is extremely vexatious to owners. My own experience, and that of many others here in regard to cars fitted with battery ignition, is that we get many instances of mystifying mis-firing. This applies particularly to cars fitted with Delco ignition such as the "HUDSON" which will be running perfectly at one moment, and then will suddenly behave in a most erratic manner, as though induction were upsetting the sequence of firings. Even the Service people, and experts here have never seemed to be able to get to the bottom of this trouble, which has occurred upon several American cars belonging to friends of mine, but which passes off as unexpectedly as it began, thereby making it extremely difficult to diagnose. I am quite certain that if two cars exactly similar were offered on the market here, the one fitted with battery ignition only, and the other fitted with magneto ignition only, that all old motorists would purchase the one with magneto ignition in preference to the one with battery ignition, even if it cost them say 10% more though I am willing to admit that perhaps the majority of people, purchasing their first car, would plump for the one with battery ignition. The ideal is of course to have two ignitions as at present, as one gets the benefits of both, and has always the means of starting up and moving even if the battery system breaks down entirely. The sale on this market of American cars fitted with batteries for ignition and other (OVER) | ||