Simplified Theory of the Magneto

This paper contains part of the results of ignition investigations being made for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics at the Bureau of Standards, and describes a type of circuit which has been found useful for representing the action of high-tension magneto. While this equivalent circuit is relatively simple, and consequently can be used as a basis for deriving definite mathematical formulas for induced voltages and similar quantities, it has been found experimentally to correspond quite closely in its performance with the highly complicated electrical circuits of an actual magneto. In the paper formulas are given for the voltage induced in the secondary under various conditions of operation, and a number of numerical examples are worked out showing the application of the equations to a variety of practical problems.