Revisiting The Big Fairbanks

We videoed the big Fairbanks at Boonville again this summer. I zeroed in on the ignitor, which is a neat gizmo for lighting off an engine. Ignitors were very common in the early part of the Twentieth Century, when engines ran at low RPMs. I read somewhere that sparkplug ingition is mechanically simple, and electrically complicated; and ignitors are electrically simple, but mechanically complicated. With sparkplugs, the coil is actually two coils, a primary and a secondary. Ignitors require only a single set of windings. There is a set of points that closes in the cylinder when the rod pushes on the ignitor arm, and the points pop open when released, making a spark at the same time. An electrical engineer could probably explain what happens with the coil when the points close, and then break the circuit. Anyway, it is fascinating to watch. During the last part of the video, Duane closes the mixture valve on the carburetor and lets the engine die, then cracks it open again and lets the engine run. I think he has practiced this a few times.