Teresting to know more about this accessory.
When it started to sell them?
Ake

My guess - and hope - is that they started to sell them about one day before they stopped!

Hey, an Apco for your rods

That style of rod bolts have been posted before. Clean them up a little and use them for garage wall art.

They must not of worked very well because every set that I have pulled out of an old engine the bearings where spun out of them! But some one made some money on the ideal?

Here is an earlier thread on this accessory including old ads: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/104038.html?1251646796

Hi! Dee HI there friends and neighbors! This is your ol' pal Elmont J Slim here, an' HAVE WE got a deal fer you!

With apologies to Ake and others. The cultural reference is likely lost on our European and way-Southern friends.

I would not trust to use those. They ARE a wonderful collectible. I have heard of them, but never seen one. I do have an adjustable center main bearing. I don't plan on trying it either.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2

Pulled a set out of an engine I worked on for a friend. I think they were popular as a band-aid application for crankshaft journals that had worn out of round but it was just snake oil.

Ake
This ad looks like a match for the bolts in your photo . . .



And this patent appears to be a match, but with patents it's a bit harder to be 100% sure.
There were others that were close.

Albert A. Adams
Davenport, Iowa
Self-Adjusting Bolt
Patent number: 1449484
Filing date: Nov 17, 1921
Issue date: Mar 27, 1923
http://tinyurl.com/88xo2db
http://preview.tinyurl.com/88xo2db

Regards
Art

My friend who renovate T engines, has reconditioned cast new crank and frame storage.
He cast about 300 engines in this way.
I think it would be better with a cross track. ....!
Ake

Forgot to write but you should understand!
He drilling two holes.
And the score does not reach out
Ake

Nice drawing, Åke
This recent thread had a very interesting message - from Dean Yoder, who has more experience with long distance Model Ting than most everyone alive: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/272837.html?1331003030

"I ran 3 xed rods with dippers and one not Xed rod 37,000 miles the non xed no dippered rod was the best.
Dean"

Another message in that thread recommends reading bearing theory, as a lot of testing has been made with babbitt bearings for more than 100 years, so it's not all magic, even if the conclusions seems against common sense to many.

What I've learnt from theory and others experiences is that oil should be added from the non loaded side. Ford did that originally by chamfering the babbitt on the sides where the bearing halves meet - the sides of the rods takes the least beating. The rod side of the bearing is the most loaded and should really have all its surface left, as oil pressure is built only on a non scored surface. I have a hole from the top on my rods from an earlier owner - and will let them be there, as some oil may collect on the rod and drip down in the hole when the engine stands still for some startup protection, but I wouldn't make any oil groove in the babbitt, and I don't think they help at all when running - quite the opposite.

X-ed rod caps works as many has tried, even though the load from a the weight of a cast iron piston during intake stroke might be high at high rpms - but X-ed rod bearings may not last for as long as original style, as Dean Yoder has shown. Just a hole down to a dipper may or may not help oiling the bearing, but there might actually be some more benefit to have just the dippers without any hole or x-ing.. the more oil that can be put into the air inside the crankcase as small droplets or a fog, the better lubrication all the plain bearings gets. And if there's enough metal at the rod nuts, the dipper metal can be folded to secure the nuts

Look at the thread pitch

I've torn down several engines with those automatic take-up rod bolts in them and they were all good. Harry bought a NOS set in Great Falls at the swap meet last year.

An old farmer friend used to do a similar deal to true up crankshafts. He'd take the rod cap, put a piece of 600 emery paper in the cap, put the cap on with a couple springs and the nuts, crank it over with the starter or start the engine and shut it off after it ran a few seconds. He said, and I believed him, that it would true up the crank pretty well. He did it on anything that had babbitt but probably mostly on T's and A's.

Ake, I've done rods with the holes like that for years, some on both sides, some on one side, some with a groove across, some without. I drill a 1/8 hole and countersink 1/4 for a little more "funnel" effect. I dunno if they help or not but I believe in doing it and I don't like dippers so that's the way I do them.

Kep, that is not the thread pitch for the nuts. They in theory kind of ratchet tighter as needed. As I said in theory as I have only seen them in person in my hand. I think it was an interesting idea, but I think maybe theory didn't translate into real life.