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).
Failure of Phantom III big-end bearings and urging the production of a new design.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 115\3\ scan0167 | |
| Date | 7th January 1938 | |
| 1020 RHC.{R. H. Coverley - Production Engineer} from Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}3/R.7.1.38. P.III BIG-END BEARINGS. As you know our experimental running has shown that the P.III big-end bearings will not stand up to much over 25,000 miles hard driving. For this reason we developed a big-end bearing in Hall's alloy which satisfactorily completed 65 hours endurance by the end of last September. At the Conference of the 11th October it was agreed to make 12 sets to be fitted to customers cars to get some preparatory results before standardisation. There was a delay for which there was no justification in issuing the detail drawings, but these were sent to the O.P. on the 15th December. We understand that the bearings have not yet been started on. If a connecting rod goes through the bottom half on a P.III, it will cost the Company about £200. We should, therefore, be glad if you could urge this job. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||