Model T Assembly line

Thanks, Neil, interesting clip.
Both my grandfathers owned model-Ts, used on their farms. One was a flat-bed with a 2-speed back axle. We had a few old stuffed engines in the back shed, I recall. My maternal grandfather reckoned that the engines were only good for about 30,000 miles before a rebuild was necessary. Not surprising; the bearings were fed oil by splash, not pressure (tho most in those days used only splash feed), and the big ends were only about 30mm dia, pretty small for a 2.9L engine, so I guess they took a hammering.
In particular, the ignition system was unique. Thomas Edison designed the "Ford Coil" for Henry Ford; four coils, each driving a spark plug were driven by a low-voltage alternator, the alternator consisting of a series of permanent magnets mounted around the flywheel with pickup coils. Each ignition coil had a trembler buzzer to generate a continuous spark, unlike the modern Kettering system. A low-voltage distributor switched the low voltage from one coil to the next.
As a kid, I had heaps of fun fooling around with the old Ford coils, as they could generate a decent continuous 1/2" spark - great fun for zapping mates!
cheers,
Gerry

Tanks for the pointer Neil, I guess this is not something the average person would look up and I thought it was fascinating and how rugged the model T's actually were.

Regards
Paul H

My grandfather was a Merbein boy who commenced work at the ford factory in Geelong when it opened (1925). I think it was actually an old Wool store while they built the factory. He produced "T" models until he left to go shearing in SA in 1926 at the age of 21. He and his mates all chipped in and bought a vehicle which they used to travel across to Kingston and then further north and around the gulf. As there were a few of them, they had to take it in turns sitting in the vehicle and then standing on the running boards. By coincidence, there are photos of the lads hanging in the Wool Museum in Geelong (there was a famous Australian photographer whose name escapes me travelling the outback sheds taking photos at the time). He later returned to Geelong in 1928 and again worked at the Ford factory assembling the Model "A".

It's an amazing bit of video even though the first model T's in Australia were knock down models put together in Canada and reassembled here.

Cheers Mick