***1915-1916 Ford/KW Ignition Coil Assembly***

[VowellArt]

Ok, I'm not sure of what the year span is for this style coil, I took a stab at it because Steve Jelf showed me a set of coils he got from Ron Patterson for his 15 Runabout. So, I figured if Ron sent these, then these were probably correct for 1915, but they may also be correct for other early cars, even though I can't see it going much past 1914. If any of you guys know for sure what the cut off date for this type of coil is, I'd appreciate you letting me know.

Also I'd like clarification on the windings, both the Primary and the Secondary and if there is 2 of them or not, like on the later coil. If you have some pictures of these windings please post them here so I can modify the drawing accordingly.

As always I appreciate any help you can give me to make this and every drawing I do as correct as possible....thank you!

[Original Smith]

When did they go from the six screw top, to the four screw top? According to the judging guidelines, the new metal box appeared in May of 1913.

[VowellArt]

Larry from Bruce's book (Encyclopedia of the Model T), KW made the 6 screw top and Ford changed it to 4 screws in 1916 (probably Henry saved a couple of penny's that way)....also according to Bruce, this coil is actually a Late 1913 thru late 1915, because in 1916 the 4 screw top (Ford) was widely used. Going to have to do a bit of re-think here, because also according to Bruce, the vibrator and bridge didn't use screws, they were riveted (like the ones everybody is using today), clear though 1924 and maybe later, although the use of the "Grub screw" was discontinued in 1914. It's all kind of confusing really, trying to keep track of these little quirks between years, it really screws with the titling of a drawing.

[Ron Patterson]

In my view it all depends upon who actually made the coil.
Remember Ford and KW started co-producing the KW Williams designed coil sometime in 1915.
After peering into over 24,000 Model T Ford coils while rebuilding them you can tell who made them and I think KW made the 6 screw black top coils and both Ford and KW made the 4 screw raw red and yellow Brass metal tops.
But then again who knows? There were no hard and fast rules about who made what and when, just guesstimations from extant records.
The exact date this stuff actually made it to the production line could have been different depending which manufacturing facility or Branch manufacturing plant was involved.
Ron Patterson

[VowellArt]

Ok Ron, how about this....

[Dan Hatch]

Here is one I am still wanting info on. Never have found out story of it.

[1915ford]

I seem to recall that the 1914 coils still had brads all around the side cover which did not yet have the grooves for the cover to slide on. At some point in this era the number of brads was reduced from 10 to 8. I suspect that the slide on cover came later but how much later i don't recall. Trent provided me with this coil documentation from the engineering record of change. It is very detailed and the coils were evolving each month during this era. Pretty fun trying to “nail” these details down with all the loose coils floating around the universe. Impressive drawing!

[VowellArt]

Whoa, a transparent coil, probably a demonstration unit....one that looks like the kind you'd show to prospective buyers to show them how the coil works or is more reliable than the previous coil model was. This one looks like one of the later types and represents the basic wood coil box. This is the sort of thing companies do to showcase what's inside their newest design.

So the 13 and 14 coils boxes were nailed? Well, seems I'm going to have do a bit of cogitation here and rethink my approach....ever notice that nothing on these cars is EVER straight forward and or cut and dried?

[Wayne Sheldon]

"..ever notice that nothing on these cars is EVER straight forward and or cut and dried? "

That pretty much sums up my sermon for the past forty years!

If I have said it once, I have said it a hundred times!
"The model T Ford is the ultimate icon of mass production! Fifteen million cars, all alike. No two exactly alike?"

Wonderful the work you do with all these drawings! Thank you.