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.

This sectioned example was donated to the museum by the Sydney motor dealers Larke, Neave & Carter Ltd in 1931. The company 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 and is probably from the 1920s or early 1930s.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carburetor
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

A carburettor is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. It was invented by Hungarian scientists Donát Bánki and János Csonka in 1893. Today, carburetor have been replaced by the fuel injection, which was first introduced in the late 1950s and then successfully commercialised in the early 1970s. However, the majority of motorcycles are still now carburetted due to lower cost but as of 2005 many new models are now being introduced with fuel injection.

Sectioned automobile carburettor, metal, maker unknown, United States of America, 1926-1936

Automobile carburettor made of metal, cut to show the mechanical operations. These include the choke and throttle valves in the barrel through which the air supply passes and the float valve devices in the barrel through which the gas supply passes. The exterior of the carburettor is dark bronze, brown and silver in colour.

Made: United States of America; 1926 - 1936

On one side of the carburettor is 'S(illeg.)' stamped and on the other side is '(illeg.)BL / (illeg.)PO...(illeg.) / (illeg.)...A' stamped. These marks are illegible in the sections where the metal has been cut away to show the internal mechanisms. 'MORE - LESS - GAS' is also inscribed in a circular motion on the other side and this appears again 'MORE - LESS - IDLE GAS' with two arrows indicating the turning direction. '8V 18' is also stamped horizontally in one section.

B732

1926 - 1936

200 mm

170 mm