Another thread was talking about how to time a distributor for a T engine. It is alluded to that you can use a T buzz coil and this correct. The Atwater Kent ( and probably others) era distributors could be set up to use one only T coil and the T magneto. On the Atwater Kent the rotor can be installed in two different positions. One position is for what I will call "conventional" with the spark occurring when the points "break". The other is set up for the spark occurring when the points "make" and using a buzz coil.
I know some are quite passionate about retaining the buzz type ignition and not requiring the use of a battery at all
Sounds like a good way to wear out a coil's set of points, because the points on a buzz coil open and close a lot and the arcing will eventually glaze over the points and prevent them from making contact. Since you're opening and closing the points four times as often as a stock ignition system, I'm sure the points will glaze over faster. Of course if you have a full set of coils you could spread this out over all four coils and get the same life out of your system. You just have to get the points replaced on each coil a little more often if you drive your car a lot.
Just an observation. Sounds like a neat setup though. I'm sure there will be a lot of people who'd like to give their opinions.
Jared
My experience is T coil points with a good (condenser) and running on mag last a very long time before any significant amount of metal transfer occurs. I am not familiar with this glazing you refer to except associated with a deficient condenser. The one feature I see that using a distributor in this fashion would accomplish is probably superior individual cylinder timing. A distributor cam is typically machined to about .001" for consistency. So likely the spark timing would likely by correspondingly accurate. In the era Ford literature they impress upon the importance of consistent spark timing (that between each cylinder). Centering the front cover is considered very important. If you consider the commercially available timers a spark variation of 5 degrees is likely as good as it gets. This is one case were more accuracy is better. People who run in the Montana 500 expend some effort to ensure optimum spark timing consistancy.
On another note KW made a timer elevator unit that incorporated not only a sliding brush contact to select the coil but a set of points (and condenser) to attempt to achieve exact timing. I have each of these but have not used them yet
Bosch distributor 600-M