Apparatus for treating and conditioning fuel for use in an internal combustion engine

A device for conditioning a liquid fuel flowing therethrough, said device comprising:

• a casing having a fuel inlet port and a fuel outlet port;
• and
• at least one insert within said casing, said insert being configured to define at least one passage through which a stream of said fuel must pass in flowing through said device from said inlet port to said outlet port;
• said insert comprising a material containing at least one trace metal element to be added to said fuel as said fuel flows through said passage and over a surface of said insert, said material of said insert comprising at least 50 percent tin by weight.

A device for conditioning a liquid fuel flowing therethrough, said device comprising:

• a casing having a fuel inlet port and a fuel outlet port;
• at least one magnet mounted in said casing for subjecting said fuel flowing therethrough to a magnetic field;
• and
• at least one insert mounted in said casing adjacent to and upstream of said magnet, and having a longitudinally extending hub portion and a plurality of longitudinally extending fin portions radiating from said hub portion so that spaces defined between said fin portions form passages through which streams of said fuel must pass in contact with surfaces of said insert as said fuel flows through said device from said inlet port to said outlet port;
• said insert comprising a material containing at least one trace metal element to be added to said fuel as said fuel flows through said passages and over said surfaces of said insert;
• and
• said fin portions of said insert being helically curved so that said streams of fuel pas through said passages along helically-curved paths, and are directed along helically-curved paths as said streams exit said insert and pass through said magnetic field to which said fuel is subjected by said magnet.