Invented in 1893 the carburettor was the preferred method of supplying fuel to car engines until the advent of fuel injection. In the 1970s fuel injection began to replace carburettors in many popular car models. Carburettors came in a variety of forms but the basic principle which governed their action was the same. In a carburettor the amount of fuel supplied to the engine is controlled by air flow. The faster the air moves the lower its pressure and the carburettor uses this principle to determine the mixture of air and fuel sucked into the engine.

'Zenith' carburettors were manufactured from the early 1900s and by 1917 they claimed 600,000 motorists were using their patent automatic carburettors. In 1955 they combined with their major rival Solex carburettors and the rights to 'Zenith' designs fell to Solex's United Kingdom branch. Eventually the Zenith brand name was phased out and no longer used by the company. The 'Zenith Stromberg' carburettor was popular in classic 1960s British cars such as the MG series, Jaguar's and Rolls Royce's.

This sectioned example was donated to the museum by the Sydney motor dealers Larke, Neave & Carter Ltd which was founded around 1926 to handle the importation of Chrysler automobiles. Their original offices were in Hunter Street Sydney but by the late 1940s they were running a showroom on William Street. To keep people employed during the depression the company employed its staff on a week on week off rotational basis which at least gave its workers an income. This carburettor is a pre-war model is probably from the 1920s or early 1930s.

References
Advertisements, The Motor in Australia, March, 1917, p.339
http://www.sucarburetors.com/
http://www.pictureaustralia.org/apps/pictureaustralia;jsessionid=2A24361B4620E59A79E2B0D4FEB37634?action=PADisplay&mode=display&rs=resultset-2966&no=2
http://www.australianbiography.gov.au/hazlitt/interview3.html

This automobile carburettor was made by the Zenith Company in England in the early 20th Century.

Zenith Carburetters was a British company making carburetters. Their biggest products were the 'Zenith-Strombergs' used in MGs, 1967-1975 Jaguar E-types, Saab 90s and early 99 and 900s, 1969-1972 Volvo 140s and 164s and some 1960s and 1970s Triumphs, such as the Triumph Spitfire which used Zenith IV carburetters in the North American market.

Automobile carburettor, 'Zenith-Stromberg', metal, made by Zenith Carburetters, England, early 20th century

'Zenith-Stromberg' metal carburettor featuring an open throttle and a variable venturi controlled by a piston.

Made: Zenith Carburetters; England; 1901 - 1950

Printed in silver on a black circle is, 'STROMBERG / STROMBERG MOTOR DEVICES CO. / CHICAGO. U.S.A. / PATENTED / MAY 27.13 - JAN.4.16-NOV.26.18 / ALSO MODELS-O & LS. OCT.25.21 / MODELS-O-OC-OF-OS & LS, JUL.12.21 / MODELS- L - LB - M -MB-O-OC-OS&LS,JAN.31,22'.

B731

1901 - 1950

145 mm

190 mm