Contact-breaker Point (distributor)

The picture displays a complete distributor bottom with condenser and dashpot. In the distributor you may recognise the fourfold cam for four cylinders and the contacts. Because it is a French model, the much bigger anvil as compared to the hammer is striking. This was a possibility to reduce the burn-up of the contacts and to distribute it on a bigger area.There was no solution yet for the problem of the burn-up of the contacts. It did not suffice that the condenser deleted the electric arc at the beginning of the opening. Because up to 4 amperes of current had to be put through, a piece of the material (wolfram) could easily get stuck on the opposite side. As a result, the dwell angle and ignition time were shifted because the contact breaker gap was altered. The performance decreased, the pollutant portion in the exhaust gas and the mileage increased.To reduce this, the hammer of the interrupter contact performed in addition to the closing movement also a sliding movement. This should prevent the material deposit on the opposite side. Another specific feature of this distributor is the adjustable spring tension in the low-pressure adjustment. With it the influence of the load on the ignition can be changed.