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VACUUM ADVANCE MECHANISM

Distributors are the hearts of battery ignition systems. In many ways they’re like magnetos in that they have breaker points, a condenser (capacitor), and use a coil to boost the vehicle’s low voltage – 6, 12 or 24 – up to the 15,000 or 20,000 volts needed to fire the spark plugs, they just don’t generate their own power to do so, but use the vehicle’s battery instead. Like a magneto, a distributor is usually turned by the engine’s camshaft, which on a four-stroke engine rotates at half the engine’s crankshaft speed. And, like a magneto, a distributor must be “timed” so that it fires each spark plug in each cylinder in the correct order and at just the right moment to ignite the fuel and air mix and produce the most power in the most efficient way.
2. Restoration & Maintenance of Military Vehicles

Historic Military Vehicle Ignition Systems Part I

By Steve TurchetNov 12, 2019

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