Bosch Automotive A product history

6 | Supplement 2 | Journal of Bosch History
Spark emitter and trademark
Bosch magneto ignition
The origins of Bosch as a supplier of automotive equipment go back to 1887.
This was the year in which, on behalf of a customer, the 25-year-old electrician
and precision mechanic Robert Bosch built a product that was later to play an
important role in the automobile – a magneto ignition device for a stationary
engine. In 1897, Bosch installed one of these devices in a motorized three-wheeler
to see whether it was suitable for everyday use in motor vehicles. This unwieldy
apparatus became a key product of the company. It turned Bosch into an automotive
supplier both inside and outside Germany. Ignition systems have undergone
further development since then, and are now integrated into complex engine
management systems. But one thing has remained the same. Even today, an electric
spark ignites the air-fuel mixture and keeps gasoline engines running.
The high-voltage
magneto ignition
system with spark
plug was suitable
for universal use and
made Bosch highly
successful virtually
overnight.
Magneto ignition is based on a double-T
armature around which a wire coil has been
wound. It moves in a magnetic field, thus
generating a current. Robert Bosch was
by no means the inventor of this principle.
As early as 1866, Werner von Siemens used
it in his dynamo-electric machine. And in
1876, building on this basis, Nicolaus
August Otto developed the break-spark
ignition device. He needed this to generate
ignition sparks in his four-stroke engines.
Nine years later, at the request of a customer,
Robert Bosch first built a magneto
ignition device for a stationary engine.
When testing the device, however, he found
that it was not really suitable for everyday