Testing different washer materials, such as lead, copper and asbestos, for air valves.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 12\4\ 04-page14 | |
| Date | 13th March 1914 | |
| From Exp. Dept. Copies for: J. {Mr Johnson W.M.} R. {Sir Henry Royce} Na. {Mr Nadin} E. {Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} Wor {Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} /EH1/L13314. March 13th. 1914. Re Washers for Air Valves. X.705 We have tested washers made of lead, copper and asbestos, and special jointing material. It is supposed that the present fibre washers absorb the moisture and so make it very difficult to remove the air valve. I do not altogether agree with this because the heat of the engine would always keep this washer dry. There is another reason, when screwing the air valve into the carburetter one uses the outside diameter of the ring which holds the top on, this is nice to get hold of and is a larger diameter than the air valve body, when it comes to screwing it out the top ring unscrews first because of the friction of the fibre washer so then it means that one has got to screw the air valve out with the body which is a smaller diameter and more awkward to get hold of, also the screw thread on the top spoils the grips. If we fix either the lead or copper and asbestos washer we get over the difficulty of the air valve as a whole being tight in the carburetter but we have the difficulty in unscrewing the top ring to get the top cover off because there is no means of holding the air valve to unscrew it. With either the lead or copper asbestos washers we might get the trouble of air valves working loose | ||
From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).