Practical Hand Book of Gas, Oil and Steam Engines

Practical Hand Book of Gas, Oil and Steam Engines is described as a simple, practical and comprehensive book on the construction, operation and repair of all kinds of engines. John B. Rathbun is named as Consulting Gas Engineer and editor of Ignition. The title page says the book deals with the various parts in detail and the various types of engines and also the use of different kinds of fuel.

The text says the coils each have a simple high tension winding of many turns, thoroughly insulated and protected against mechanical injury. The text says that in the single cylinder igniter, one end of the winding is grounded to the case of the igniter, while the other end is connected to the heavily insulated lead wire. The text says kerosene has a very high calorific value per gallon, 8.5 gallons of kerosene having the same heating effect as 10 gallons of gasoline. The text says the function of the condenser is to absorb the spark produced at the vibrator points so that the break is made quickly, producing a maximum spark.