[AT] 8-volt batteries in 6-volt tractors

Larry D. Goss rlgoss at evansville.net
Thu Mar 9 22:50:53 PST 2006


Baloney, Walt.  Studebakers had factory-installed radios in the
mid-30's.  They also had an OEM water-core heater, not an add-on
Southwind.  Twelve volt systems came into being in the spring of 1948
from GM so they could power factory air-conditioning.  My father was on
the design team that put together one of the first auto air-conditioners
and they specifically changed out the six volt generator and put a
twelve volt alternator on the car so they could keep up with the power
drain.  There wasn't space under the hood to mount a six volt generator
that would have kept up with the drain of power that was being consumed.
I was there.  I rode in the car.  My father used to rehash the design
problems every night in the barn while my brother and I were milking the
cows and doing other chores  -- literally.  The car was a big four door
Buick.  I didn't get the privilege of riding up to Detroit to show off
the prototype.  That honor went to my next older brother who was a
junior in high school at the time.

They didn't get the contract.  GM chose to go with a design that used a
thermostatically controlled electric clutch to control the interior
temperature rather than using an electrically powered compressor to run
the refrigeration cycle.  As a result, the standard automotive A/C
system is inherently inefficient at low engine rpm.  We could have had
automotive A/C that kept the car at the same temperature regardless of
engine speed, but we don't.  But we did get alternator charging systems
and Lucite air ducts to bring the cooled air out of the trunk and back
up to the passenger compartment as a result of that prototype design. 

Mechanical vibrators were still being used to get AC voltage for running
radios all the way through the 50's.  I watched my Dad rebuild the
vibrator in that old 1935 Studebaker enough times so that when the one
failed on my 1959 Mercedes 220S, I was able to do the same thing on that
vibrator to get the OEM three-band radio to operate again.

Larry

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of
DAVIESW739 at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:21 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: Re: [AT] 8-volt batteries in 6-volt tractors

Larry you must be awfully young, 12 volts came out in the early to mid  
fifties.  Most autos didn't have anything but lights and most of them
were  small. 
Radios and heaters were an option until about 53 and even then  on some
cars 
they were. Power windows what are those.  No the 12 volts came  about to
start 
the higher compression engines and small overhead V-8s not to run  all
kinds 
of electrical things because unless you were rich and owned a Caddy
that stuff 
just didn't exist.
 
Walt  Davies
Cooper Hollow Farm
Monmouth, OR 97361
503 623-0460 





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