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).
Gearbox issues, detailing noise, complexity, and proposed improvements to the gears and Maybach jaws.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 6\2\ 02-page154 | |
| Date | 14th March 1931 guessed | |
| (3) Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/11.4/Hr.I.S.S.cont. (b) A big "clonk" from the toggle mechanism each time the gear is changed. (c) The combination of having a gear change by gear lever and from the steering wheel is very complicated. It is necessary to exercise much more conscious mental effort than when driving a normal change speed equipped car. In its present form this gearbox is very much less fool proof than the Maybach hand controlled scheme recently fitted up on 14-KX. The epicyclic gears were not ground, we are trying to get ground gears. The helical gears can also be ground. We are also altering the angle of the Maybach jaws, at present these are too steep. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Lid.{A. J. Lidsey} | ||