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).
Instructing on the importance of factual accuracy in daily reports following a submission about a petrol pump failure.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 92\3\ scan0229 | |
| Date | 27th April 1937 | |
| 300a To Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/IMW.{Ivan M. Waller - Head of Chateauroux} from Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} c. to Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/GWH.{George W. Hancock - Head Chateauroux} Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}1/AP.27.4.37 I have been reading your Daily Report of April 24th. I think you should realise that your Daily Reports are circulated to people who have no technical knowledge. We should never put any deduction on these Daily Reports unless we are absolutely certain that it is correct. If you are not certain, report the failure and say the matter is being investigated. In this report you state that the petrol pump failed, but you have not given any under-bonnet temperatures or data for us to work on here. Dixon is fairly confident that the diaphragm did not shrink sufficiently to cause the trouble of which you speak if the pumps set correctly in the first place. We are going to send Dixon out to investigate this fuel system trouble on the spot. One of Delco-Remy's engineers is also going out to see if he can find what is happening on the distributors, as nothing like this has taken place before on any car which we have previously run. The Experimental Department has a fairly good reputation for veracity. We want you to try and maintain this reputation by avoiding going into print until you are certain that what you are saying is correct. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||