Jump to content

What was the first year for electric fuel pump?


Guest 1930

Recommended Posts

  • 5 years later...

Ed, I have an original, non running pump. It is in on the bench in pieces at the moment, I have had the upper casting reproduced, I still need to make bottoms. when done I will able to offer them to Wills owners as a simple pass through part, (non working). I know of a Wills owner who found one at Hershey 30 years ago NOS in the box, he has not put it on his restored car. I made 10 castings, it could be a lifetime supply with so few Wills out there! Karl

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What year was the ad? I always enjoy the true car people who go to every effort to make their car correct. Sadly it is not done very often anymore. I see so much stuff on the Concours circuit that is incorrect, and sadly the owners and restores don't often know that the car is incorrect.  Recently a major multi million dollar car was on the show field. The restorer was overly proud of the restoration and very vocal about it. I pulled four points off of it from ten feet away. I kept my thoughts to myself, but the judges found more wrong than I did. It seems the new younger generation of restorers just go for the bright and shiny look, authenticity just seems to go out the window. Never mind that half the stuff cant even drive down the road without a tow truck behind it to ensure a round trip.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

West & Ed, this is a copy of a Jan. 1927 ad. The month Wills shut the doors. I have a full page copy of an other Autopulse ad from 1926 that also states who used the pump. The small ad is from an Old Cars article I cut out and saved. When I get home tonight I will scan and post it for all to read. I could not find the other ad even though it was in my hands this winter, When I do I will post it too. Wills always said he was first in 1925. Karl

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our awareness of safety and knowledge/respect of equipment was different then.  In most cases unpressurized gasoline simply burns.  It's not explosive until the vapor is pressurized despite what Hollywood shows.  Accidents usually happen out in the wide open and car is ripped open.  Unless you were unconscious the first thing you did was turn off the ignition because we were smarter than.  We we okay with a 10% chance of a fire hazard.  Now everything needs to be 99.99% safe.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Mike, the lower boat autopulse pump is what Wills used, but just one. The #500 that Duesenberg and others used has a much larger electric magnet than the earlier type.(Shown in your first photo) This must have been a good one as it is used for years and years. 50's cars continued to use 1-3 pumps. Karl

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting that the electric pump was used so early. The Wills was certainly an “engineers” car with all its unusual advancements. Now the big question. Why didn’t All automotive manufacturers go over to the electric pump sooner? The vacuum tank was still in popular use till 1932. And when you think about it, the V-16 Cadillacs with the dual vacuum tanks were down right primitive compared to the power plant and transmission. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If Karl's disassembled unit still includes the "brass bellows" I'd like to see a close-up picture of it.

 

That would be the key to a reliable electric pump. Something like a rubber diaphragm that can be used to pump by expanding it and contracting, without it degrading and rupturing. In this case a brass bellows was used. How much elasticity and durability could that have? It seems the bellows was pulled open by the electromagnet, it would fill with fuel, then the magnet de-energized, and the bellows would contract expelling the fuel.

 

It would have been, say, an early attempt at a self-priming plunger type pump, as opposed to centrifugal pump. I suppose it would also have had a check valve.

 

"Autopulse is a small magnetic fuel pump that consumes very little current. It delivers clean gasoline from the reserve tank by the pumping action of a brass bellows, which is expanded by an electro-magnet."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You might want to add a caveat to the fuel pump mix.  AC had just started building the design that became the "industry standard" for fuel pumps in 1928.  So these two new technologies were both in there infancy.  I am guessing Cadillac decided not to risk it and went with the proven system?

 

Interesting even today we are replacing the diaphragms on the 1928 fuel pumps, so the new fuel is not eating them....  Finding a metal (brass) diaphragm would be an engineering challenge, remember it also has to have a magnetic property so the electro-magnet will work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mike, the insides had been gutted long ago. There is two locations for spring discs (check valves) like most mechanical AC and Stewart pumps from the 30's and up use to keep prime and pressure in the upper casting. 1929 Pierce Arrow went with a Mechanical AC pump on the "new eight" getting rid of the vacuum tank, but they like Wills liked Delco parts for a long time so an AC pump would make sense. Wills on the other hand was looking for the most modern , best constructed parts he could use for his all new updated1925 models.  Karl

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...