Abstract: A spark plug configuration having improved operational characteristics to achieve a greater efficiency in internal combustion engines. The ground electrode of the spark plug is configured to have two equal width prongs that diverge from each other in a uniform manner from a point that is substantially on the projection of the periphery of the center electrode. At least one of those prongs is redirected in its outer portion so as to be directed toward the other prong. This redirected portion begins substantially along a projection of the periphery of the center electrode such that the terminal or free end of the prong extends beyond the extension of this periphery. In a second embodiment, the second prong is also redirected at an outer portion toward the first prong such that a completely symmetrical mirror-image prong is formed about a plane passing through the axis of the center electrode and the vertex.

Abstract: An IC engine spark plug wherein the gap-defining end of the ground electrode is split or divided to form two continuously diverging non-parallel angularly spaced apart end portions, the base or vertex region where the end portions join together being so located relative to the plug's center electrode that a spark bridging the plug's spark gap impinges first at the base region and then splits for simultaneous travel along the end portions.