Flexibility issues in dashboards and scuttles, proposing reinforcement solutions.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\S\2April1928-June1928\ Scan011 | |
| Date | 11th April 1928 | |
| DA. {Bernard Day - Chassis Design} HS. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} } FROM R. {Sir Henry Royce} BY. {R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} } (At Le Canadel(Henry Royce's French residence).) REC'D AT WW. DURING EASTER AND DESPATCHED 11.4.28. C. to BJ. WOR. {Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} C. E. {Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} SG. {Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} 20HP. & 40HP. STEERING COLUMNS. X5500 SCUTTLES & DASHBOARDS REVIEWED. X7500 x7260 x7250 x5430 x7430 A dashboard should be able to stand up by itself: it is likely to be too flexible fore and aft, but it has excellent lateral stiffness. The scuttles as made by coachbuilders have fore and aft rigidity good, but are too flexible laterally. They can therefore help one another, but there are two reasons for not bolting them tightly together. (a) We imagine and believe that the body receives more vibrations from the engine when this is done (semi-isolation good.) (b) Owing to the unavoidable deflection of the main chassis frame vertically we have allowed space between the scuttle and dash, otherwise we ask the bonnet and radiator to move, or the body to bend, at the part below the bottom of the front door, (cab. de ville, open, sports.) The difficult problem therefore is (b) resulting in all sorts of troubles - bonnet knocks, scuttle knocking dash - and the only complete cure is to let the dash stand up independent of the scuttle, allowing a space perhaps filled with soft rubber, and use semi-isolation with fore and aft flexibility, or the scuttle damper. STEERING COLUMN. It seems best to hold this up at 3 points - i.e. on the box, and at the dash, and by the stays, ("SS {S. Smith} " may not need the stays) but for the stays to be any good the dash must be rigid where these stays are attached. The only way of getting this right as far as I can see is that there should be stiffness equal to at least at the centre 2" deep sheet steel U section across the dash, and vertical stays of effectively 4" deep at the bottom to hold the dash rigid relative to that position of the frame to which it is attached. Each about 1" deep at ends 4- or more. Supporting stays can be behind or in front of dash. Cast aluminium does not seem stiff enough (aluminium so low M. {Mr Moon / Mr Moore} of E. {Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} ). Therefore it looks like sheet aluminium dash pressed to any shape you need, with steel stiffeners. Radiator and bonnet must follow dash. There are slight movements at bottom part of bonnet which seem unavoidable, scrubbing catches and lock. I am anxiously awaiting some rough drawings from DA. {Bernard Day - Chassis Design} at WW. of what they suggest for Sports Phantom. 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).