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 Goshawk engine cylinder head after extreme cooling tests involving running with boiling and no water.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 24\4\ Scan052 | |
| Date | 1st June 1922 | |
| To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from HS.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to CJ. c. to E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. to Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. to SY. X.1751 X766 GOSHAWK COOLING. X.4225. X.4240 X.1751 X766 We have carefully examined the cylinder head on the Goshawk ll. engine which has run a total of 275 hours on the test bed. This engine has been run with boiling water for a considerable time; it was also run detonating badly for three or four hours. Examination of the cylinder head showed no signs of cracks. After examination the engine was built up again and run at 2000 revs. with the water boiling. The engine was run full power boiling, until the power commenced to fall off. It was noticeable that at the same time the power commenced to fall off the oil on the top of the cylinder head began to frizzle and boil over - there was no drop in power until there was no water in the head at all. We found when we stopped down, there was less than 1 gallon of water in the system. We examined the head after this run and still found it to be satisfactory. The appearance of the cylinder head showed that the engine must have been running with no water circulating at all. We carried out a further test running with the engine boiling. This test, we varied the speed and load whilst the engine was boiling so as to try and reproduce the road conditions more closely. We ran the engine until there was a definite drop in power and until the oil and paint was frizzling on the cylinder head; when we stopped down, there was only 3 pints of water in the whole system. contd:- | ||