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).
Letter from The Gordon Armstrong Patent Suspension Co. Ltd. regarding a patent arrangement for a balanced valve in shock absorbers.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 152\2\ scan0081 | |
| Date | 10th September 1937 | |
| Copy of letter from The Gordon Armstrong Patent Suspension Co. Ltd., Waltham Works, Beverley, E.Yorks. Messrs. Rolls-Royce Ltd., DERBY. 10th. September 1937. For the attention of Mr.Leslie. Dear Mr.Leslie, I am glad we can come to some arrangement regarding the balanced valve, should you get your patent successfully completed. When you consider that we make no less than 3,000 shock absorbers every day you will appreciate the fact that in buying, a very small percentage of a penny matters, and it would be on these lines that we would have to consider any royalty that we paid out, as many good ideas that we have had have had to be discarded owing to the cost of manufacture. The above remarks, however, do not apply quite the same in a small production on the higher priced article, but no doubt we can come to some satisfactory arrangement if we decide to use it on part of our production or on the whole of it. We tried out the double diameter valve a good many years ago, but on account of the other difficulties in the shock absorber we were unable to use it; in fact it was one of the first valves that we made. I have now got the latest shock absorbers on my Bentley, and I am inclined to think that there is a good deal to be said for finding the correct ratio between compression and rebound to get ideal results. I have been trying these different ratios out lately with more or less success. Yours sincerely, (signed) Gordon Armstrong. | ||