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).
Secret internal memorandum discussing the development and issues of the gearbox for the rationalised programme.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 136\2\ scan0012 | |
| Date | 23th January 1938 | |
| File 1153 also. 428 Secret- Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} from Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. Hy.{Tom Haldenby - Plant Engineer} c. RWC. c. Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. Mx.{John H Maddocks - Chief Proving Officer} c. HPS.{Horace Percy Smith - Experimental Factory Mgr} c. Da{Bernard Day - Chassis Design}/Hdy.{William Hardy} GEARBOX FOR RATIONALISED PROGRAMME. The one section of B.V. which, at the moment, is in a state of uncertainty, is the gearbox. In order to appreciate the situation it is necessary to explain that the development of a gearbox cannot be carried out entirely by the Experimental Department. The actual fabrication of the gears (and on this depends to a large extent the silence of the box) is carried out in the Works. Obviously, the manufacture of a few sets of experimental gears annually would not justify the large amount of specialised equipment, nor would the staff be able to acquire the experience necessary to function satisfactorily. In the past, with the one exception of the Wraith chassis, we have always been disappointed with the degree of silence achieved on experimental boxes. The original synchromesh Bentleys were infinitely noisier than the present production boxes. We were almost in despair about the P.III side shafts. In each case, once the boxes got into production, a marked improvement was achieved by the Works, with the result that to-day our transmissions are, without doubt, the envy of the automobile industry. This re-capitulation of past history is necessary in order to obtain a true perspective of the worst feature of the present B.V. box, i.e., that of noise. B.V. Box. In a very short time the problems of durability, gears jumping out of mesh and lack of changing ability, all of which were brought about in an endeavour to save cost, have been overcome. There remains the problem of noise. None of the gears at present compare favourably with those of the Wraith. There seems to be no fundamental reason, however, why all the gears, except bottom, | ||