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).
The economic and practical reasons for establishing a small foundry and pattern shop at Springfield.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 18\6\ Scan177 | |
| Date | 2nd September 1920 guessed | |
| -2- Thirdly - We think they will find a small foundry more economical because they will not have repeated delays and machines being held up for castings if they have a foundry under their own control. There are many other good reasons that will appeal to Mr. Nadin and Mr.Bagnall, and others at Springfield, and there is no reason for us to labour this point further. Indeed Mr.Bagnall had selected certain foundry experts to go out with the team, but for some reason they were not required and crossed off the list. We should imagine that Springfield will find difficulty in getting a small number of castings, when the American Foundries are busy, and also we think that American Foundries are on mass production generally speaking, and do not care to tackle small quantities and to change fairly frequently. Then again, our team in America found great difficulty in getting good enough castings during the War period for our engines. We know that it was a great source of trouble to Mr.Bagnall and others. We shall be most happy to co-operate in any way if this suggestion is considered advisable. To obtain the maximum advantage from a foundry it would be necessary for Springfield to have a small Pattern shop, as no doubt it would be very difficult to have patterns made outside, for the same reasons given above for the foundry. Mr.Cheetham, who was the Foreman pattern maker at Derby belongs now to Springfield, and he should be able to handle this. ---------------- | ||