if so what did N,R,&S use?
steve

I thought AC (Albert Champion) came along after some rift with him and the Champion board. I may have that mixed up with Ransom Eli Olds getting fired by his board and starting the REO company using his initials though??

Champion Spark Plug: The First 20 Years

By Rich Street





Albert Champion formed the Albert Champion Company in 1905 with Frank D. and Spencer Stranahan. On June 24th Certificate # 1 in the amount of 51 shares was issued by the Albert Champion Company to Albert Champion with Albert signing as President and F.D. Stranahan signing as Treasurer. The Stranahans knew how to run a business, while Albert did sales and design. The Albert Champion Company started in Boston's South End, in the Cyclorama Building, presently headquarters for the Boston Center for Fine Arts. A bronze plaque outside the Cyclorama Building marks the spot.



The Albert Champion Company started selling imported ignition items and began manufacturing their own. It did well enough for the Stranahan brothers to put a younger brother, Robert, through Harvard. Albert Champion, the company’s namesake, left the company in late 1908 to move to Flint, Michigan and begin the Champion Ignition Company (later to become A-C).



The Albert Champion Company introduced the “X” spark plug in 1909 while still in Boston, but never used the “word mark” of “X” on their plugs until early 1911. The simple CHAMPION name was used on the early plugs. This simple all capital letter logo looks suspiciously (almost same font) like the “CHAMPION” logo first used commercially in 1894 by the Stark Brothers Nurseries & Orchards Company and trademarked in July, 1905. Did they steal the company logo off an apple crate? With an ego like Albert Champion’s it just might have happened.



In the winter of 1909 Robert A. Stranahan became manager of the Albert Champion Company, in partnership with his two brothers Spencer and Frank. Spencer handled manufacturing and Frank was the finance man. The first year’s spark plug production was less than 50,000.



Spencer died in winter 1910 and the following spring the remaining two brothers moved the plant to Toledo, Ohio to be closer to the Willys-Overland Auto Company. The move to Toledo, required by the Willys contract, was into the second floor of the Holmes Snow Flake Laundry building. Robert Stranahan later described the move, “We came to Toledo with spark plug manufacturing equipment loaded in two box cars and and saddled with a $22,000 debt.”



The Champion Spark Plug Company became incorporated on July 2nd, 1910. The first 3 share certificates were issued to Fred Baker, Burton Ames and Randolph Frothingham. Fred Baker signed as president and Frothingham as Treasurer. On July 10th, Messrs. Baker, Frothingham and Ames signed over their shares to Robert Stranahan, Frank Stranahan, and Charles Walker. The company grew as did the Stranahan’s shares, but on January 31st, 1912 Elizabeth Whithall Stranahan, mother to the Stanahan brothers, was issued 1000 shares, making her near equal to the holdings of her sons.



With a month James D. Robertson applied for Champion Spark Plug's first patent on August 5, 1910. The application was for a terminal clip design. It was issued on July 18, 1911 with the number of 998,304.



In 1911, Ford bought 200,000 spark plugs from Champion and by 1919 Ford was purchasing 3,500,000. Also, in 1911 a law suit was filed by Albert Champion, GM and Durant against the Champion Spark Plug Company over the Champion name. The case was later settled in the 1920’s in Champion Spark Plug’s favor.



The first production Model T Ford was assembled in Detroit on October 1, 1908. With it came Henry Ford’s intrusion into spark plugs. DeDion had previously set the standard threads for plugs at 18 mm and at the same time the first Model T rolled off the line the American Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM, forerunner of the SAE) chose the 7/8-18 thread as the standard, but Henry had a dislike for metrics and the ALAM so he introduced the ½ inch pipe thread spark plug in the Model T.



Ford spark plug records are not available, for 1908 through mid-1912. Beginning in Mid-1912 Ford archives show purchase contracts from both Champion Spark Plug Company and Champion Ignition Company. Between 1912 and 1915 Ford used four different brands of plugs. According to the Model T Ford Club of America, Mezger Spark Plugs were used during 1913 and 1914, AC Spark Plugs between 1912 and 1913, Mosler Spark Plugs in 1914 and the Champion “X” Spark Plug from 1912 on.



The early Champion X plug was straight sided porcelain with a simple locking nut and knurled thumb nut on top. It lacked the “double-ribbed” insulator with brass top that was included on later plugs and on modern reproductions of the Champion X and 3X. The “brass hat” style insulator on the Champion X was not introduced until 1915 or 1916. This coincides with Champion’s purchase of the Jeffery-DeWitt Company, a small spark plug manufacturer, in 1915. Part of the reason for purchase was the expertise held by Dr. Joseph Jeffery and his brother Benjamin. Dr. Jeffery was an expert in insulator research and Benjamin was the one who designed production equipment. The crimped on “brass hat” is first seen on Jeffery’s patent 942,646, applied for in 1906. It was Jeffery who discovered the Sillimanite mines in California for Champion.



Around 1912 Champion spark plugs were being exported to Europe from first the United States and subsequently Champion Spark Plugs Canadian subsidiary. In 1922 the Champion Sparking Plug Company Ltd. was set up in the United Kingdom.



In 1927, the same year as Albert Champion’s death, Champion Spark Plug designed a Number 3 spark plug and in January of 1928 the new Champion 3X spark plug, designed specifically for the Model A was introduced in the automotive press.

Very enlightening! Thanks Richard!

Hi Richard, Thanks for the post.

Regards, Roland

Richard,

Thanks for sharing. Note the NRS and S Roadsters also used the ½ inch pipe thread spark plug. That size plug was continued with the Model T. I don’t know what thread the two-cylinder Fords. used.

For Steven,

You specifically asked about the plugs used in the NRS & S Roadster Model Fords. If you would like additional information on them there is an excellent group called the Early Ford Registry that has a lot more information. See: http://www.earlyfordregistry.com/

I suspect (but do not have documentation) that Ford used multiple suppliers for spark plugs for the NRS & S Roadster cars. That is based on the 1907 Price List of parts that list the spark plug but NOT a manufacture for the plugs. But one make that I suspect would have been used was the “soot-proof” Below are some pictures of the Soot Proof plugs provided by David A.



You may also see a picture of the Soot Proof and some good comments from Trent Boggess at the very end of his webpage at: http://oz.plymouth.edu/~trentb/ModelT/T7299/T7299.html

I enjoying looking up this sort of stuff, because on the way to find a picture of the Soot Proof plug I ran across a copy of an advertisement that David A. had given to me. It is from the Oct 1908 Motor Magazine Page 75 and is show below:




The 1/2 inch pipe thread plug is shown on the right. Note the Ford Motor Company endorsement letter included in that advertisement. It is dated April 14, 1908 – BEFORE the MODEL T. The letter states in part:

“We are pleased to advise that “Spit-Fire” spark plugs have given us the very best of satisfaction for the last there years. Therefore have decided to furnish same as part equipment of all our cars during the season of 1908, and if they are as satisfactory as they have been in the past, know that there will be not spark plug trouble.”

Below is the letter expanded from that advertisement:



So for sure the “Spit-Fire” would have been one plug available for the NRS & S Roadsters. If the “three years prior” includes the 1905 models – then they also would have had “Spit-Fire” as one of the options.

And below is a picture of one of those “Spit-Fire” plugs provided by David A.





If anyone has some additional information or advertisements etc. that indicate which spark plugs were used on the early Fords, I would love learn more about them.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap Tucker 1915 Model T Ford touring cut off and made into a pickup truck and 1907 Model S Runabout. Sumter SC.

Way cool! Thank you both, Richard and Hap.

Seth

Hap,

This portion of the A-429 Cylinder drawing for the 1903 Model A Ford, dated January 22, 1903, shows the spark plug hole (lower left) was tapped for the 1/2" Pipe Thread. Looks like this continued until the second Model A. The upper hole tapped for the 1" Pipe Thread was for the exhaust or intake piping.



Many pictures I've seen of Model A engines shows the spark plug moved around to one of the valve cover plugs, like the Model N used.

Tom
Detroit

Tom,

Thanks so much for posting/clarifying that the two-cylinder Fords also used the the1/2 inch pipe thread plugs.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap Tucker 1915 Model T Ford touring cut off and made into a pickup truck and 1907 Model S Runabout. Sumter SC.

Lots of good information here on Champion X plugs in Model Ts:

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/36692.html

The brass top Champion plugs were used in Fordson tractors first. Later they appeared in the Model T. The straight sided Champion X plugs with the nut on top were certainly used in the T thru at least 1921.

Royce

Thanks for the enlightening post Richard that probaly explains where the Stranahan theater up in Toledo got it's name. J.R.

Here is an advertisement from a 1917 issue of The Saturday Evening Post showing the typical straight sided Champion X plug used until around 1922:




Here is an advertisement from a 1925 magazine showing the later brass topped version. Note the Model T Champion "X" is in the lower r/h corner: