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).
Letter from Avon India Rubber Co. Ltd. discussing tyre specifications and proposals for Bentley cars.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 156\3\ scan0123 | |
| Date | 1st May 1939 | |
| ESTABLISHED 1885 SYMBOLS OF ENDURANCE The AVON INDIA RUBBER CO. Ltd. CHAIRMAN MAJOR R.F. FULLER, J.P. DEPUTY CHAIRMAN SIR HERBERT E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} BLAIN, C.B.E., M.INST.T. JOINT GENERAL MANAGERS R.H. COMLEY, O.F. SWANBOROUGH. SECRETARY & ACCOUNTANT E.H. LOVELL, A.C.I.S. SERVICE DEPOTS. LONDON. BIRMINGHAM. BRISTOL. MANCHESTER. NEWCASTLE. GLASGOW. BELFAST. Telegrams RUBBER, MELKSHAM. Telephone MELKSHAM 120 (6 LINES). Codes A.B.C. 5TH EDN, WESTERN UNION, BENTLEYS & M.I. PRIVATE CODE. LONDON OFFICE. MABLEDON PLACE, ST.{Capt. P. R. Strong} PANCRAS, LONDON, W.C.1. HEAD OFFICE & WORKS, MELKSHAM, WILTS. Rolls Royce Ltd., DERBY. JGM/NAW. 1st May, 1939. Attention of:- Mr. W.A. Robotham. Dear Sirs, We thank you for the courtesy extended to Mr. S.L. Hewitt and the undersigned last Friday, and for your agreement to fitting our tyres to your Bentley cars for season 1939-40. We shall do everything in our power to justify this mark of your confidence. For your Standard Model we will supply 6.50/16 4-ply tyres of low stretch cord construction and embodying the improved breaker construction described in our letter of 24th April. Mr. Hewitt is at present investigating commercial considerations arising from your suggestion that the tyres supplied to you should be specially marked and will probably see you regarding this matter during the present week. We believe that suitable equipment for your Continental chassis weighing 36 1/2 cwts. will be 7.00/16 4-ply tyres of low stretch cord construction in the same tread pattern as the 6.50/16 tyres which you have approved for your Standard Model, with proportionate tread weight and embodying our improved breaker construction. For the Streamline Model, designed for Autobahn work we propose to make experimental tyres from the last of the 6.50/16 experimental moulds which we purchased. You will recollect that this differs from the mould finally adopted for 1939-40 production in that it has narrower grooves in the tread pattern. This mould is of course of no use to us from the standpoint of immediate production requirements, so that we can by successive machinings of non-skid, produce from this mould a range of tyres with different tread weights. We propose to make in the first place from this mould a number of tyres in your standard 6.50/16 construction as detailed above. Then we will make some tyres with a substantially re-inforced casing but to standard tread and breaker constructions; these tyres might be of interest if we found the present tread weight was safe enough, but still greater resistance to concussion fractures was desired. Finally, we will remove some non-skid depth from the mould and make tyres with lighter treads and with the alternative casing constructions mentioned above. We would be glad to learn approximately how many tyres of each type will be sufficient for your tests. | ||