On Thu, 17 Nov 2016 12:33:17 -0800 (PST), wrote:


On cars that used a magneto and which therefore generated alternating
current at HT voltage, was the phase of the magneto "hard-wired" to that of
the crankshaft (eg by gear/chain/toothed belt drive), so each pulse of the
magneto corresponded to the instant when a spark was required in one of the
cylinders, or was it totally asynchronous, with it being a matter of luck
whether the magneto was outputting maximum voltage at the instant when a
spark was required? Or did they rectify the magneto output and smooth it
slightly with a capacitor to keep the HT at a high voltage irrespective of
the phase of the magneto?

Magnetos have the magnet in the edge of the engine flywheel, producing one timed spark per rev.

Not on our Fordson N type tractor , Separate unit just driven from
the engine.

Trembler coil ignition ran all the time, resulting in very ropey spark timing & rough running. Hence it was just used for starting.

Not a coil in sight.

It's nearly 50 years ago but on starting which unless you were built
like Charles Atlas was done by winding the starting handle one
cylinder movement at a time the magneto had a spring mechanism which
wound up and the flipped the rotor fast enough to create the spark.
Once the engine fired this was mechanism was disengaged and the rotor
run directly. Heck easier to read the Manual
http://www.sky-net.org.uk/kelvin/tec...as/rf4_manual/


Could get a good spark just by turning the end of an unmounted unit by
hand, Dad did not appreciate this when we connected the output to a
wire taped very carefully to the seat of the outside loo where just a
couple of strands poked above unseen.

G.Harman