MTFCA Forum

In a discussion with a friend we somehow got to talking about Henry's starter & generator. No problem as to the date it was introduced but when did the actual process start?
When the magneto electric light was introduced, Could Henry then have said OK now get to work and work out a starting lighting system or could it be the wheels were put into motion developing the starter lighting system after wars end in 1918 and it was finished and finally appeared in 1919.
To make such a big alteration must have needed lots of developing. Working out where to put the component on the motor, working out how big the components needed to be to do the job, doing all the testing to make sure it would be a good trouble free addition to the car ( it definitely was).
With the war raging was it delayed till the end of it or was work being carried out in the 2/3 years up till 1919.
I had a good friend who worked in the experimental department of Oldsmobile and in the 1950's they were designing and developing 8 years in advance.
I have never seen any indication of the history of this aspect but as is always the case someone probably knows all about it or knows who does.
Anyone Know what happened? Anyone like to offer an opinion or rule out any possibilities. Maybe its been kept a secret or the records lost and we never will know.

Can't help on Fords time line or intent but others had beaten him to it to have electric start, charge and lights. Grey and Davis was one to build such a unit for T's 1915 and General Electric Co, the Genemotor, was another unit built just for T's.

Some background to it is here http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/411944/491925.html and here http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/708324/718939.html
It would appear that the starter design chosen had been developed for military applications and was subsequently adopted by Ford.

Ford was using electric lights based on a KW magneto light system in 1912. Reference The Automobile, 25 January 1912, pp303,304.

Thanks John and Scott ( for actually answering my questions) Knew of Fred Allison but had not made the starter connection to him.
Seems Fred has been dealt a poor legacy especially as his FA Liberty Electric Co had his name(initials) up front.
Not much recognition from that if any. Maybe there was some kind of fall out and Ford set about getting all the technology and manufacturing over to the Ford Company. and Fred was sidelined.
Ron Patterson appears to be the only one who has been interested enough to investigate Fred and his endeavors on the starter generator. ( thanks for that from all of us)
Ron mentioned how the FA units are rare and looking at my records I have found a 1919 book put out by the American Bureau of Engineering on the "Ford Standard Electrical Equipment." It featured the F.A generator and Starter motor as well as features of the system. There are photo's of both generator and Starter motor which I will scan.
From the few bits of information on Fred Allison and the Ford starter & lighting system it looks like America's entry into the war in April 1917 probably fast tracked the development of the electrical system and Ford was able to quickly adapt it for the Model T. So from start to actually having them installed in the cars only took about 12 months or so. The motor age article (John H's attachment) in December 1918 solves where the newspapers got the idea that all the Fords would be equipped with the starter. As I mentioned initially the addition of the electrical system to a motor designed and built way before anyone thought of actually making it so a starter and generator could be grafted into the motor as they did was a great achievement.