Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars

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Thu 18 Jul 2013 16:20
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - Pondlife

I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath, and they talk about "raising" and "lowering" the spark. What does this mean? Is it talking about advancing and retarding the ignition timing?

The book is set in the 1930s dust bowl, and the cars were old, so probably 1920s models. One car that's mentioned is a Hudson Super Six.

For example:

when starting a car with the starting handle: "Pull down the spark so she don't take my arm off".

Then, after getting the car started: "he raised the spark and reduced the throttle".

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Thu 18 Jul 2013 16:26
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - dadbif
Great book!

In those days cars had a lever, normally mounted on the centre of the steering wheel, that allowed the driver to manually adjust the ignition timing, in this case moving the lever up advanced the ignition "raising the spark", whilst moving the lever down "lowering the spark", retarded it.
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Thu 18 Jul 2013 16:29
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - unthrottled

Correct. If you started the car by hand, you would retard the spark timing to after TDC , otherwise there would be insufficient momentum in the crank to get past TDC. If the engine fired, the piston could be pushed back down the way the bore ie backwards. The starting handle would then whip out of your hand, spin round and whack your arm on the other side!

The engine would (hopefully) idle albeit roughly until you could move round to the cabin to advance the timing.

There wasn't any vacuum advance or centrifical mechanical advance on the early cars. It was all done by ear.

Cranking a car was a hazardous occupation!

There was an interesting upside to manual spark levers. Canny operators would blip the throttle before switching the ignition off in order to flood the engine with fuel. When you came back to the car, it was always worth jiggling the spark lever in the hope that the cylinder on the power stroke would fire with sufficient momentum to start the car without manual winding.

A similar strategy has been 'rediscovered' by Mazda 100 years latrer in their stop-start system.

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Thu 18 Jul 2013 16:56
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - jc2

I,at one time owned a Hudson 6,but a 1930's one not a 1920's one and my one had by then got centrifugal advance and no steering wheel adjustment.

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Thu 18 Jul 2013 17:01
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - jc2

I,at one time owned a Hudson 6,but a 1930's one not a 1920's one and my one had by then got centrifugal advance and no steering wheel adjustment.I spent many months starting it on the handle before I bought a new battery-however,if parked on the slightest slope,it would bump-start.The engine only needed to turn over once.Wet clutch like a motor bike.

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Thu 18 Jul 2013 18:01
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - madf

i had a 1929 Riley 9 with ahnd throttle AND hand ignition advance and retard (magneto ignition) . The latter was connected via beautiful rods and connectors to the magneto and turned it round...

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Thu 18 Jul 2013 18:22
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - craig-pd130

If the engine fired, the piston could be pushed back down the way the bore ie backwards. The starting handle would then whip out of your hand, spin round and whack your arm on the other side!

The Panther Owner's Club website used to recommend (semi-jokingly) leaving the advance / retard lever on the big sloper singles set to full advance when parking the bike, as an anti-theft measure.

A thief unfamiliar with the drill of starting a big single would then suffer a leg-crunching kickback, or be launched over the handlebars, if they tried to start the bike :)

Edited by craig-pd130 on 18/07/2013 at 18:23

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Fri 19 Jul 2013 10:28
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - TeeCee

Leo Villa, who was Malcolm Campbell's mechanic, said that he would carefully set the ignition timing of Campbell's car at Brooklands for starting. Then Campbell would get in and advance the ignition to where he thought it ought to be.

Campbell had a famously short temper and anyone who had the temerity to suggest that he might be incorrect about anything would be rewarded with several minutes of high volume b****cking. Villa said that cracked knuckles were something he just had to learn to live with.

Starting drill was always: "Ready?".

[Switch on] "Ready."

[Swing] [BANG!]. [Smack]. "Ouch! Excuse me sir, would you mind retarding the ignition a shade....?".

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Sat 20 Jul 2013 18:56
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - Ordovices

The type of fracture commonest from the kick back is still known as "chauffeur's fracture".

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Sun 21 Jul 2013 23:03
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - John F

The type of fracture commonest from the kick back is still known as "chauffeur's fracture"..........

........and the risk reduced by keeping your thumb on the same side of the crank handle as your fingers. My father taught me this when he lent me his old Rover 105S with a weak battery.

Incidentally, motoring doesn't seem to have progressed much in the last half century...it was a 6 cylinder car good for 100mph with a most comfortable armchair. I suspect it would easily keep up with modern traffic if any survive.

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Mon 22 Jul 2013 07:59
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - Dwight Van Driver

If I remember correctly (it was a long,long time ago) there was an advance/retard lever on the spade lugged Fordson Tractor.

To get rid of birds when running along if you whipped it up an down it produced a b***** great bang that scared them.

Didn't do much good to the exhaust pipe.......... but then I was young and daft.

dvd

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Mon 22 Jul 2013 10:20
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - SlidingPillar

Going back to the original, I think it must be an Americanism. All the older folk I've talked to and the old books I've read (got the 1914 Motor handbook, a great read) refer to advancing or retarding the ignition.

Automatic advance which came in on distributors in the 40's fully retards the ignition at zero revs so does the job for you.

I've a steering wheel mounted advance/retard lever on my vintage car. Fully retarded to start, a little bit retarded pottering or going up steep hills, but will take full advance all the time for most things.

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Mon 22 Jul 2013 20:04
Meaning of raising/lowering the spark on old cars - madf

I had a Rover 110. Nice but undriveable in snow. And very very heavy. And it wallowed round corners and 22mpg...

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