the history of thermostats

From the Model T manual:

The heat generated by the constant explosions in the engine would soon overheat and ruin the engine, were it not cooled by some artificial means. The Ford engine is cooled by the circulation of water in jackets around the cylinders. The heat is extracted from the water by its passing through the thin metal tubing of the radiator---to which are attached scientifically worked out fins, which assist in the rapid radiation of the heat. The fan, just back of the radiator, sucks the air around the tubing---around which the air is also driven by the forward movement of the car. The fan belt should be inspected occasionally and tightened when necessary---not too tight, however---by means of the eccentric adjustment in the fan bracket. Take up the slack till the fan atarts to bind when turned by hand. How does the Water circulate? Answer No. 36

The cooling apparatus of the Ford car is known as the Thermo-siphon system. It acts on the principle that hot water seeks a higher level than cold water--consequently when the water reaches a certain heat, approximately 180 degrees Fahrenheit, circulation commences and the water flows from the lower radiator outlet pipe up through the water jackets, into the upper radiator water tank, and down through the tubes to the lower tank, to repeat the process.

Aftermarket/reproduction water pumps for Ford Model T are available. My 1914 Ford Model T car has one.

Thank you Andrew.

so, no antifreeze back then? How did they prevent water freezing and ruining engine, radiator, etc back then?

Alcohol.

"I hate front wheel drive, most torque must go to the rear" wrote in news:lic10s$p7s$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

You drained the water each time you left the car to sit in freezing weather. It was a big pain in the butt to do, and if you forgot, you'd wreck your engine and rad. That's why antifreezes were invented.

It was common way-back-when to "lay up" the car until spring, partially because it wasn't practical to drain-and-fill all the time in freezing weather, especially when you may not have had running-water readily available.

I'm not sure if alcohol antifreezes were actually the first ones. "Prestone" was glycol-based and was expensive. "Zerone" was alcohol-based and was cheaper.

Zerone had a bad tendency to evaporate over time, so you had to keep buying more, which kind of defeated the idea of it being cheaper than Prestone.

How far back would you like? Early engines used hopper cooling or air. Hopper cooled engines worked like a tea kettle, the water would get hot and evaporate off, you kept adding water to make up the difference.

Then came screen and tube cooling Basically a small water pump would circulate the hot water through tubes or up to a tube that had holes that allowed the hot water to run over screens. The increased surface area gave better cooling.

This led to the "modern" cooling systems. These were similar to those in use today. Most used thermo siphon cooling. The water circulated simply from the heat of the engine. (hot water rises just like hot air)In these there is no thermostat.

Then came the pressurized system used today. These use a water pump and thermostat to cool the engine. This was needed because as the power output of the engines increased they needed better cooling. The thermostat also allows for automatic control of warm ups and operating temps.

Antifreeze was developed for two reasons. One to keep coolant from freezing. Two was to improve cooling. Early anti-freeze was alcohol mixed with water. Very similar to coolant used today. The pressure cap came about as a way to increase engine operating temps to improve performance and emissions.

I believe in that era, alcohol-based industrial products were very, very popular, especially if they could be mixed with a little oil of juniper and poured into a martini glass.

--scott

I found a service manual of some kind online about Model T's. In it there was an explanation of the cooling system and they stated that it was intended for the water to boil, if necessary, because the boiling removed a lot of heat as it turned the liquid to vapor. So they told you to be sure and take water with you and keep the system topped off as needed. This was when there was no such thing as a summer "coolant" other than water so no one really cared how much "coolant" the car used as long as you has a supply to add more.