when was the first four barrel carb introduced

someone asked me this the other day, I had no idea and after looking it up
I was sort of surprised.... any idea without doing a search and even my search may have been wrong but I will go with it...

just trying to up my post count a little...lol

 

WCFB "Will Carter Four Barrel" i'm not 100% positive on the year, but my '58 Studebaker came with one stock. I'm sure they were out before '58 though...

EDIT: come to think of it... wasn't '52 the first year for the four barrel... it was still a WCFB... and '57 they came out with the Carter AFB "Aluminum Four Barrel"?

 

Not sure myself but I have a '52 Packard in the shop with one.

 

I have no clue if this is correct, but I read it was a Holley "toilet bowl" in late '54 or '55.

 

The Stromberg 4A Aeroquad was produced from 1952-1954 and was Stromberg's only four barrel carburetor. It was used on Buick engines (that Olds and Cadillac borrowed for 1952, to Buick's displeasure).The 4A was probably the first four barrel carburetor, appearing shortly before the Carter WCFB . Here's an old thread http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3751329

 

buick didnt v-8 till mid 53,olds and caddy put one on in 52 called a 4GC they were rodchesters,wcfb also came out on caddys and olds models in 52 believe packard also had a 4 holer in 52

 

Haystack Holley 4bbl in '54 for Ford, maybe earlier? I think Lincoln had them in '52 or '53.

 

51-52 Buick Roadmaster, there is a 4bbl intake for the big straight eight.


I'd bet you can find one older though if you dig.

 

looks like I might need to do more research but according to what I found it was the 55 ford/ Merc..........which surprised me ..

 

Good question, never thought about that one before. (and, there's one more post for me.............)

 

looks like my first idea was wrong..
I found this from a Hemmings Motor article..

The biggest jump in horsepower could be found exclusively in the 1952 Roadmaster. The 320.2-cubic-inch engine with its 3.4375 x 4.3125 bore and stroke--unchanged since 1936--carried a four-barrel carburetor for the first, and only, time.

so we now have one for the Buick.. which is for sure prior to 55.

 

Cadillac had a small base 4bbl WCFB just like the Buick and started in 52.

 

Here's an early oddity that never quite happened, presumably quashed to keep within budget: Look at pics for patent 2104178.


http://www.google.com/patents/about...inm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=

This is a very important patent, covering the dual plane manifold adopted by Ford in 1934 as a two barrel with the Stromberg.
Note that the drawings call for a four barrel...vaguely drawn, apparently to be based on the big E Stromberg!
Ford went with the familiar EE two barrel, and no four barrel actually appeared as far as I know in the thirties.
This patent represents the birth of the modern manifold used henceforth on nearly all carbureted V engines...
1952 saw the trio of new four barrels from Rochester, Stromberg, and Carter, but it seems Ford and Bhnalite were considering pushing towards one probably from Stromberg in the early thirties.

 

Sure looks like an early Offenhauser manifold Bruce. Do you suppose someone out in California got a copy of the drawings?

 

Wouldn't surprise me...I knew Ford and Bohn aluminum collaborated on the 2 plane manifold, but I was shocked when I found the actual patent and saw the hypothetical four barrel! It even looks like the normal early fifties pattern dimensionally. I would assume suggesting such a non-existent carb probably involved some involvement at Stromberg with preliminary commitment to develop the hardware! Any carb company would have given at least a kidney and a lung to get the Ford contract, and of course Stromberg did supply Ford for the actual 2 barrel version.
I think the Carb sorta shown there ls based on the Licoln Stromberg, which looked about thus. The manifold cured the roughness that had been a part of V8's since their inception before WWI.

 

This could be a tricky question, depending on if the criteria were "four barrel" or "four-venturi".

As far as I am aware, the first production four-BARREL automotive carburetors in the USA were 1952. This included alphabetically Carter (WCFB), Rochester (4-GC), and Stromberg (4-A). Holley followed in 1953 with the 2140.

As an aside, I have both the Carter and Stromberg prototype four-barrel carbs in my "museum".

If the criteria is "four venturi", a whole can of worms is opened; as there were a number of multi-venturi one-barrel carbs produced back in the 1930's (and possibly earlier).

Jon.

 

Bruce - I have seen the patent before. Just for grins, I did a search on the Stromberg experimental files. I checked from July 1 1933 through July 1 1934, and there is no record of Stromberg having built a prototype four-barrel.

My take on the manifold was (and is) someone had done their homework based on the Seldon patent (no intent to produce, just want to collect royalties if someone does produce). Just my opinion, others will differ.

Jon.

 

Chevrolet had a WCFB in 1955.

 

Me and my Dad are putting together a '52 Buick Roadmaster right now, and it has the 4 barrel Stromberg Aeroquad. I'm fairly certain it's the first use of a 4 barrel by GM, not sure about industry-wide.

 

4bbl carbs more or less synched up with the introduction of overhead valve V8s and ended up with a staggered rollout across manufacturers.

 

The first four barrel that came on a standard American made production car was the Stromberg 4A which came on the '52 Buick Roadmaster (70 series). Buick was also the first manufacturer to offer hydraulic lifters ( '37? ).

 

As did Desoto on the Fireflite 291 v8. Maybe even earlier on a Chrysler.

 

The Stromberg 4A Aeroquad was produced from 1952-1954 and was Stromberg's only four barrel carburetor. It was used exclusively on Buick V-8 engines. The 4A was probably the first four barrel carburetor, appearing shortly before the Carter WCFB

 

I heard that the guy that engineered the 2 carb setup on the 1941 Buicks was responsible for the 4 barrel design. Whether thats true or not the 4 bbl looked just like a pair of Strombergs siamesed together, same for the Carters.

 

WW 2 aircraft had them before being retrofitted with fuel injection. I think a allison in the early p51 had 4 4barrells,, Its been a long long time so its hard to rember all the info,,

 

Cadillac had its first 4 barrel (Carter and/or Rochester) as did Buick and Oldsmobile in 1952
Packard, in 1953 straight eight, V-8 in 55
Nash and Hudson used Packard's V-8 with 4 barrel
Lincoln and Mercury, 1954
Ford, Chevrolet, Pontiac, DeSoto, Plymouth, Studebaker, 1955
Chrysler, Dodge, 1954

Have I bored you yet?
GM made a bid deal over the four barrel in the Cadillac. It was Caddy's 50th anniversary. First year for dual exhausts and optional power steering.

Dr. Dave

 

The two most commonly used new four barrels today,the Holley 4150-4160 and the Edelbrock clone of the Carter AFB first appeared around 1957 or so.

 

The Allisons that I have seen have a BIG two barrel on the back before the supercharger, they have venturis but no float bowl as far as I know for inverted flight.

 

I know olds used the 4gc from rochester by '53 but maybe even before that.

 

Will have to check...I have an early one, I think I identified it as '52 Olds in the Rochester manual.