Connecting rod failure during engine testing, attributing it to a forging crack rather than a design fault.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 42\2\ Scan007 | |
| Date | 26th March 1918 | |
| X. 3280 COPY To Wor {Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} , from R. {Sir Henry Royce} Irem c. to CJ. c. to BY. {R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} c. to EH. c. to EFC. {E. Fowler Clarke - Electrical Engineer} c. to EP. {G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer} 26th March. 1918. R7/G26.3.18. RE CONNECTING RODS. X.2750. We telegraphed some days ago to say that we thought the engine that went to pieces during test indicated that the trouble was a fatigue break, and that we think the sample engines have been sufficiently tested by Mr. Hives to prove that it was not a fault of design. Personally, I think it must be the fault of the connecting rod breaking, due to a longitudinal forging crack spoiling the section of the rod as a strut, by dividing it lengthways into many struts, some very weak, and others with a load thrown out of centre. R. {Sir Henry Royce} | ||
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).