'26 Tudor - Kingston regenerator, is it correct and are they any good?

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: '26 Tudor - Kingston regenerator, is it correct and are they any good?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Hycner on Sunday, October 07, 2012 - 05:59 pm:

Is the Kingston Regenerator correct for for a '26 with a January production? If so are there parts available for it? Do they work good? I need a fuel bowl and probably a few other things. If it's not correct what should it have?
Thanks............


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Woods, Katy, Texas on Sunday, October 07, 2012 - 06:50 pm:

The regenerator was Kingston's answer to the Holley vaporizer. Both were supposed to provide improved performance on the notoriously poor quality gas of that era. The Kingston may have been supplied by some Ford branch plants during the 26-27 production run, but probably not many compared to Holley NH and vaporizers. It may be original to your car; maybe not. My March 1926 and May 1926, both had NH's on them, although I can't say positively that they weren't changed at some point. If you check Ford production records, they have a notation of the date when all production was supposed to have changed to vaporizers, but I don't recall any mention of the regenerator. If the factory never installed any, then it would have to have been a dealer installed item.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Woods, Katy, Texas on Sunday, October 07, 2012 - 06:56 pm:

I should have added that performance wise, I don't know of any speedsters running either a regenerator or a vaporizer. Most folks say a NH will out perform either. I do know they must be assembled air tight or they won't run satisfactorlly.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Mahaffey on Monday, October 08, 2012 - 09:48 pm:

Jim,

Very interesting. Short answer: The Kingston-B-REGENERATOR probably wasn't installed at the factory in January 1926.

Kingston was trying to sell his vaporizer carburetor to Ford in 1927, not for the Model T, but for the Model A. Look up Kingston's patent for this carburetor, no. 1,852,343, "Fuel Generating Apparatus," and you will find that it was first built to mount on the Model A engine, and not on the Model T. Ford wanted a "beta test," and Kingston built a batch of the special vaporizers to fit on Model T's, sold to the public. They were mounted by the factory on select few cars, just to see how they would perform under real conditions in the field, used by typical Ford owners. It was a brilliant ploy in the development of the Model A.

However, the Regenerator was not the first Kingston vaporizer tried. That would be the Kingston B-1 Gasifier. Ford was impressed, but he wanted a couple of things changed: reduce the cost of the Gasifier, and make it easier to clean out the vaporizing channels in the manifold. Kingston did all he could to shave pennies off the price. He reduced the choke levers from two to one, he eliminated the brass identifier plate and the stamped serial number, he did away with the brass choke jet insert, etc. On the Regenerator, the vaporizer plate comes apart for cleaning.

I'm not sure how many Regenerators made it out of the factory. Not many. Model T production stopped weeks later.

On casual glance, the Gasifier and the Regenerator look just alike, but if you've studied them for years, the differences are obvious. In McCalley's book, he mistakenly showed a picture of a Regenerator and called it a Gasifier. Parts for the Gasifier were available from the Ford factory after production closed, but never for the Regenerator.

As far as carburetors, the Kingston units were, in my opinion, far superior to the Ford or Holley vaporizers. What kept the vaproizer carburetor, which was not a bad idea for the Model T engine, out of public favor was the trouble starting a cold engine. Regardless of what the advertising copy said, it took a lot of choke. Kingston improved the choke strategy by putting a dedicated jet right at the mouth of the down-turned intake manifold. It sprays raw gas right into the intake structure. On the Gasifier, a special needle-valve is used to adjust the spray. Too much can flood the engine rapidly. This feature was eliminated in the Regenerator iteration.

The Kingston vaporizer gives obviously better fuel mileage and an immediately noticeable horse power increase.

Ford decided to buy his Model A carbs from Zenith. They were cheaper than the complex Kingstons.

Jim


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Mahaffey on Monday, October 08, 2012 - 09:50 pm:

Jim,

Very interesting. Short answer: The Kingston-B-REGENERATOR probably wasn't installed at the factory in January 1926.

Kingston was trying to sell his vaporizer carburetor to Ford in 1927, not for the Model T, but for the Model A. Look up Kingston's patent for this carburetor, no. 1,852,343, "Fuel Generating Apparatus," and you will find that it was first built to mount on the Model A engine, and not on the Model T. Ford wanted a "beta test," and Kingston built a batch of the special vaporizers to fit on Model T's, sold to the public. They were mounted by the factory on select few cars, just to see how they would perform under real conditions in the field, used by typical Ford owners. It was a brilliant ploy in the development of the Model A.

However, the Regenerator was not the first Kingston vaporizer tried. That would be the Kingston B-1 Gasifier. Ford was impressed, but he wanted a couple of things changed: reduce the cost of the Gasifier, and make it easier to clean out the vaporizing channels in the manifold. Kingston did all he could to shave pennies off the price. He reduced the choke levers from two to one, he eliminated the brass identifier plate and the stamped serial number, he did away with the brass choke jet insert, etc. On the Regenerator, the vaporizer plate comes apart for cleaning.

I'm not sure how many Regenerators made it out of the factory. Not many. Model T production stopped weeks later.

On casual glance, the Gasifier and the Regenerator look just alike, but if you've studied them for years, the differences are obvious. In McCalley's book, he mistakenly showed a picture of a Regenerator and called it a Gasifier. Parts for the Gasifier were available from the Ford factory after production closed, but never for the Regenerator.

As far as carburetors, the Kingston units were, in my opinion, far superior to the Ford or Holley vaporizers. What kept the vaproizer carburetor, which was not a bad idea for the Model T engine, out of public favor was the trouble starting a cold engine. Regardless of what the advertising copy said, it took a lot of choke. Kingston improved the choke strategy by putting a dedicated jet right at the mouth of the down-turned intake manifold. It sprays raw gas right into the intake structure. On the Gasifier, a special needle-valve is used to adjust the spray. Too much can flood the engine rapidly. This feature was eliminated in the Regenerator iteration.

The Kingston vaporizer gives obviously better fuel mileage and an immediately noticeable horse power increase.

Ford decided to buy his Model A carbs from Zenith. They were cheaper than the complex Kingstons.

Jim


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Hycner on Tuesday, October 09, 2012 - 07:49 pm:

Thanks for all the input on this. I will probably detail the Kingston, hang it on the wall and source a regular manifold and carb that I can easily get parts for. Hershey should have what I need.


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