circuit generates a control and gates the solid state device into conduction in response to the control signal application_number US 18585108 A description referring now to the drawing there is shown a capacitive discharge ignition system for one cylinder of an internal combustion spark ignition engine each component to the right of the dashed line is replicated the number of times there are cylinders to be served for purposes of illustration of the instant invention the circuit for one cylinder will suffice the storage capacitor 11 is charged by the output of the full wave rectifier 10 to store energy between each spark plug firing the alternating current input to the full wave rectifier is taken from a generator 9 or alternator associated with the engine the energy stored on the storage capacitor 11 is discharged to the primary of a step up coil 12 the secondary of the step up coil is connected across the spark plug 13 or plugs as shown discharge of the storage capacitor 11 to the coil 12 is gated by scr 14 the zener diode network 15 a 15 b 15 c and fet 23 limit the voltage across the storage capacitor 11 the low power zener network and fet biased in the linear mode for voltage regulation costs less and is more reliable than the older style power zener placed directly across the storage.