112-a. Advance and Retard Mechanism Used in the Roberts Motors. The Magneto is Driven by a Helical Gear from the Small Pinion. By Shifting the Gear Back and Forth on the Pinion, the Armature of the Magneto is Advanced or Retarded in Regard to the Piston Position. The Reason for this Change Will be Seen from the Cuts by Noting the Position of the Lower Helix.
Inspection of the breaker points is made easy by an opening in the side of the breaker box. The box is closed by a cover 74 supporting at its centre the carbon holder 47 by means of which the carbon 46 is pressed against screw 24. This latter screw connects with one end of the low tension winding while the other end is connected to the core of the armature. It will, therefore, be seen that the breaker ordinarily short-circuits the low tension winding and that this short-circuit is broken only when the breaker opens; it will also be apparent that when the screw 24 is grounded through terminal 50 and the low-tension switch to which it is connected, the low-tension winding remains permanently short-circuited, so that the magneto will not spark. The entire breaker can be removed by loosening screw 24.
The high tension current is collected from collector ring 4 by means of brush 77 and brush holder 76, which are supported by a removable cover 91 which also supports the low tension grounding brush 78 provided to relieve the ball bearings of all current which might be injurious. Cover 91 also carries the safety gap 89 which protects the armature from excessive voltages in case the magneto becomes disconnected from the spark plugs.
The distributor consists of the stationary part 70 and the rotating part 60 which is driven from the armature shaft through steel and bronze gears 7 and 72. The current reaches this distributor from carbon 77 through bridge 84 and carbon 69. It is conducted to brushes 68 placed at right angles to each other and making contact alternately with four contact plates embedded in part 70. These plates are connected to contact holes in the top of the distributor, into which the terminals of cables leading to the different cylinders are placed.
In the front plate of the magneto is provided a small window, behind which appear numbers engraved on the distributor gear which correspond to the number of the cylinder the magneto is firing. This indicator is of great value as it allows a setting or resetting after taking out, without the necessity of opening up the magneto to find out where the distributor makes contact.
The magneto proper is mounted in the base 53 which is bolted to the motor frame and the arrangement is such that the magneto can be removed from its base by removing the top parts 60a and 60b of the two bearings. The variation in timing is affected by turning the magneto proper in the stationary base which is accomplished by the spark lever connections attached to one of the side lugs 88. The spark is advanced by turning the magneto opposite to rotation and is retarded by turning it with rotation. One cylinder magnetos are similar to the four cylinder except that the distributor and gears are omitted.
(103) The Wico High Tension Igniter.
The Wico igniter produces a spark similar to that of the conventional high tension magneto except that the heat of the spark is independent of the engine speed. In other respects it is very different from the types described in the preceding pages for its motion is reciprocating instead of being rotary, and because all of the wire is stationary, the only movement being that of the iron core that passes through the center of the fields. The fact that the spark is of the same intensity at all speeds makes this device particularly desirable in starting the engine at which time the mixture is always of the poorest quality.
Fig. 113. Wico Igniter. High Tension Reciprocating Type.