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).
Field report on the dismantling of a Phantom III engine to investigate a connecting rod bearing failure in France.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 91\3\ scan0148 | |
| Date | 29th October 1935 | |
| +3002 HOTEL DE FRANCE, CHATEAUROUX, Indre. France. GWH{George W. Hancock - Head Chateauroux}/3/JAB. 29th October 1935. To. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} From. G.W.H. 31. EX. - PHANTOM III. To remove the bottom half of the Engine, we had had to dismantle the Clutch and take the Flywheel off. To do this we have had to dismantle all the connections to the Engine, remove Engine feet, Dynamo, Fan, jack the Engine up, and lift it forward so that the Clutch could be removed. Then we had to lift the engine back again to make it safe, before we could remove the bottom half, some job ! We are proceeding to get prices for a pulley block and a gantry of some description to lift jobs of this sort, as it is not particularly safe to do so with only jacks and manuel effort. Having removed the bottom half, we found a small heap of white metal under No 2 Connecting Rod. The bridge and flap of the front compartment had prevented the white metal from getting into the centre compartment which was the reason why we could not detect it in the filter or the oil. This led us to believe that it was a Piston. Examination of the crankshaft shows no damage, as a matter of fact, the oil temperature was seen to rise and power of engine immediately cut down so that only a temporary seizure took place. The bearing of the plate rod is in no way damaged. We sent the following telegram :- "NUMBER TWO MAIN CONNECTING ROD BEARING RUN OUT " The telephone line was very bad this morning and took 45 minutes to get through. A night call would be much clearer. At Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}' request, we shall dismantle the Bentley and examine the Pistons. "Doucement" will be our motto in the future. ------------------ G.W.H. | ||