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 discussing steering and suspension issues, focusing on the gyroscopic action of front wheels and comparing different shock absorbers.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 55\3\ Scan116 | |
| Date | 23th March 1926 | |
| -2- They also stop "snatchy" steering at low speeds. For this reason, and the other tests on the Phantom, we had reached exactly the same conclusion as you have, namely that practically all discomfort in steering is due to the gyroscopic action of the front wheels. Every tilt of the front axle must necessarily produce a pretty generous gyroscopic reaction on the wheels even at low speeds of 20 m.p.h. or so. Have just been roughly demonstrating this on our front axle stand. One can understand how hydraulic shock absorbers with their necessary stiffening effect for rapid motions, must help in curing wobbles and bad steering of all sorts. However the Lovejoys give very bad riding and we are inclined to think that any single acting shock absorber is n.g. on the front of our car or probably any other car. I have had Lovejoys in front of a Hup 105" wheelbase, and a Packard Six 126" wheelbase and Stabilators in front of the Hup originally, and they have all had the same characteristic. The only way I know to describe this, is that after passing over a bump the front of the car appears to fall rapidly, "jogging" the rear passengers up and forwards off the rear seat backs. On any sort of road we have here, but especially on roads in their present state, just recovering from the frost, this effect causes more fatigue in 50 miles than one would feel in 250 miles with standard Rolls-Royce friction shock absorbers in front. Have you seen Rowell's paper of the I.A.E. Scottish Section of March 1923 entitled "Principles of Vehicle Suspension". There is a sensible mixture of practice and mathematics in this paper that has appealed to me strongly ever since I first saw it, and I cannot help thinking that a careful study of it might lead to a more complete solution of our riding problems. Yours very truly, Maurice Olley MO/E | ||