>From time to time, it seems a thread crops up about ignition problems -
plug leads, distributor caps. I was up-ended on Saturday (when I wasn't
chasing obnoxious kids) in the engine bay of a 1904 Albion and it's clear
they didn't have plug lead problems - though I expect they had plenty of
others in different places!
Four vertical 'contact breakers' driven off the camshaft and a brass slice
switch with a neat ebony handle which clipped over the ignitor head.
Highly effective for a good fat spark, except for the fact that the single
UNinsulated conductor rod running longitudinally across the top of the
engine and to which the 'slicers' were fitted, got sprayed with water
through the bonnet hinge whenever it rained.
I suppose the 'progress made' is a separate insulated lead in the form of
the plug lead we now know.
John Macartney
Now in the same museum as the cars he sold when they were new
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