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).
Admiralty requirements for marine engines, including sump pumps, starter pinions, and belt drives.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 133\3\ scan0144 | |
| Date | 19th March 1940 | |
| To Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/Jnr.{Charles L. Jenner} c. to Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Marine 1128 Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/AA.{D. Abbot-Anderson}9/B.19.3.40. This is to confirm my telephone conversation this morning when I mentioned one or two points which the Admiralty insist upon in Marine engines -- 1. A sump pump must be fitted. 2. A plug must be fitted in the casing to enable the starter pinion to be freed should it ever stick. 3. Belt drives - these have never been popular in the Navy and they have compelled Parsons to remove belt drives on the V.8 Ford and fit gear drives. They do not seem to be able to produce any really sound reasons why they object to the belt drive, but I feel we might get away with it if we enclose ours in a pressed-steel housing with suitable ventilation at the top. Regarding the matter of getting oil out of the gear box, I took this up with Parsons and they say that there is no means of fitting a pump on the box itself but that they always cope with the situation by fitting a trough on the off side of the flywheel housing and allowing the gear ring teeth on the flywheel to pick up the oil and drop it into the trough from where it runs away through a pipe into the crankcase. We obviously could not deal with it in this manner if we fit our own starter motor. Parsons usually fit a C.A.V. motor with a Bendix drive which does not object to a large quantity of oil. Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/AA.{D. Abbot-Anderson} | ||