1915 headlight wire

[greenacres36]

What type of wire was used to run from the switch to the headlights themselves originally on a 1915? I would like to keep my old car as original as possible's but i’m not sure what type of wire they would have used at the time for this. I’m thinking it might have been individual cotton covered wiring.


Thanks,

Brian

[Kerry]

15/16 was a single black wire from the switch to the light, Langs have it listed.

[TRDxB2]

What type of wire was used to run from the switch to the headlights themselves originally on a 1915? I would like to keep my old car as original as possible's but i’m not sure what type of wire they would have used at the time for this. I’m thinking it might have been individual cotton covered wiring.


Thanks,

Brian

Good luck! https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/24151.html
By Trent Boggess on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 - 10:50 pm:
I have two comments:

1) Despite an extensive search among the Ford Engineering drawings and documents in the Benson Ford Research Center collections at the Henry Ford, I have found no evidence that fork mounted headlights were ever used in regular US 1915 Model T production. There are photographs of a pre-production Model T 1915 centerdoor sedan showing this style of headlights on the car, but only on a pre-production car. Some have noted that the earliest 1915 Canadian Model T parts catalog shows what appear to be fork mounted head lights, but even these disappear by the time the next Canadian parts catalog is issued. Put them on a car if you want, but don't look to me to establish their authenticity.

2) The early 1915 magneto headlight wiring consisted of four wires. One wire led from the magneto terminal on the coil box to the headlight switch. The second wire ran along side the four wire commutator wiring loom used on 1914 and early 1915 cars from the headlight switch, through the hole in the side of the radiator up to the right angle connection plug. Yes, it was simply an add-on wire. I think it may have been taped to the commutator wiring loom in two places. It was remarkably crude.

The third wire ran from the right side headlight plug back through the hole in the radiator then through a steel tube across the back of the radiator before emerging and passing through the hole in the left side of the radiator. This steel tube was initially soldered to the fins on the back of the radiator. The Ford engineers soon learned that vibration fatigued the fin. or the solder, or both and moved the location of the headlight wire tube to the radiator cross bar. After passing through the tube and the hole in the left side of the radiator the wire was connected to the plug on the left headlight. The last wire ran from the left headlight, back through the hole in the side of the radiator and was grounded by soldering the end of that wire to the radiator cross bar. It was a simple system to say the least.

The insulation on the wires was simply black. The ends of these wires were stripped of their insulation for about 3/8 inch and tinned with solder. Most of the connections for these wires as on the headlight plugs and many of the early headlight switches secured the wires by inserting the wire into a small brass conduit and were locked in place by tightening a small screw. The ground wire leading from the left headlight to the ground on the radiator cross bar had one end stripped for about 1 inch before being tinned and soldered to the radiator cross bar.

Respectfully submitted,

Trent Boggess
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Then there are these sources

[Kerry]

I'm sure that back when Trent was researching back then was the interest of US T's and sort of relied on what some told him on Canadian ones. The fork mounted bucket wasn't as scares as he wrote, they even turn up on 16T's period photo's as well and ran in the parts books for several years as fitting 15/16.

[Wayne Sheldon]

I'm sure that back when Trent was researching back then was the interest of US T's and sort of relied on what some told him on Canadian ones. The fork mounted bucket wasn't as scares as he wrote, they even turn up on 16T's period photo's as well and ran in the parts books for several years as fitting 15/16.

Thank you Kerry!
Numerous era photographs showing fork mounted electric headlamps on 1915 and 1916 model Ts have been attributed to Canadian production Ts. This also indicates that Canadian production did in fact use fork mounted headlamps for a considerable time.
The reality that also causes a lot of confusion in research is that things always occasionally get changed for one reason or another. Gas headlamps showing up on 1915/'16/'17 model Ts (USA or Canadian) should probably be attributed to changes requested by individuals not ready to accept the new electric technology. This in a large part because real era photos showing those year cars with gas headlamps are actually quite rare, (although I do have a couple of them on my computer to share in discussions). Although not truly common, fork mounted electric headlamps photos are common enough to believe that somewhere they were produced that way. Nearly half of them show other details indicating Canadian production (regardless of photo's source, they show driver's doors, RHD, or Australian names or businesses in the background), and therefore the lower Canadian production numbers accounts for them not being more common.
I have seen several era photos of black era 1917 model Ts with fork mounted electric headlamps. However very few of them, and several of them in European or African war zones. Were those alterations of some sort? Or did Canadian production produce some early 1917s with fork mounted headlamps? We may never know? (War zone photos are more likely to show altered cars as most of them are otherwise significantly altered!)

Thanks to all for the other information above! It confirms what I thought I knew, and adds some details for correctness. Special thanks to Trent B for all his incredible research!