Failure of a cell in an Exide battery due to faulty components and a request for a replacement.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\G\August1921\ Scan5 | |
| Date | 8th August 1921 | |
| To EFC. {E. Fowler Clarke - Electrical Engineer} from R. {Sir Henry Royce} Copy to SJ. [struck through] ORIGINAL. [stamp] X.3619. RE FAILURE OF CELL OF EXIDE BATTERY ON 6 EX. We are endeavouring to tinker up the Exide battery so as to keep the car going. I am extremely surprised that you have sent out a battery which was known to have defects that would probably lead to failure. It appears that this battery has the old wooden separators which were of insufficient size, and also the faulty suspension of the plates in which both positives and negatives are supported on the same ridge.(since found to be so) The best course open would be to send me a trust-worthy battery that I can charge up and put into the box at present on the car. I do not mind if it is an Exide or a C.A.V.-Willard, but it should be one of our standard make.⁺ It is no use sending spare cells for the present battery. I have made it work fairly satisfactorily but cutting out the bad cell. I expect other cells to go wrong. R. {Sir Henry Royce} Cell since found shorted by warped plates, and ineffective separators as anticipated. ⁺ Though of smaller size which should be quite satisfactory for my rate of discharge and also for capacity. RECEIVED [stamp] | ||
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).