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).
Technical letter discussing issues with well base rims and valve placement on American cars.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 42\5\ Scan072 | |
| Date | 27th May 1931 | |
| - 2 - Btn-6 May 27, 1931. All the American cars at present using well base rims have the valve in the center of the well, but this is not quite ideal because makers are using smaller and smaller wheels (17" is now quite usual) mounted on big hubs, and this makes the valves very inaccessible for inflation unless bent valves are used and these are difficult to insert in a well base rim. The proposed American standard well base rim, which has not yet been adopted, has a valve hole on the corner of the well, with the corner locally flattened to take care of it, and with this, which has about one half the offset of the Dunlop rim, manufacturers propose to use a tube with a central valve, which we have tried but could not get away with on Dunlop rims. However, we have already made arrangements to provide tubes with offset valves. We do not see that anything can be done to improve the situation, only to hope that offset valves will come into more general use in this country. We are writing this rather for your information and to keep you advised of developments that arise. Yours very truly, RBB/VB Robert B. Burton, Chief Engineer - Chassis Div. | ||