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).
Visit to observe an engine indicator instrument in operation on a test rig.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 79\3\ scan0051 | |
| Date | 9th August 1917 guessed | |
| Contd. -2- We considered that it would be worth while to see this indicator in operation and for this purpose Mr. Bailey suggested that I should pay them a visit on Friday last. I was shown all the details of the latest type of instrument and afterwards another instrument in operation on the engine. The engine was a small 2 or 3 H.P. Jap Motor Cycle engine and was coupled up to a direct current generator, the whole combination being bolted down to a rigid concrete bed. The indicator was fixed up in a vertical position and connected immediately to the top of the cylinder by a short pipe. It was supported on a panel at the back of the engine which was carried by angle irons and rigidly stayed to the wall at the back, so that there was no possibility of the engine or instrument vibrating. The light was supplied by a small arc lamp on a shelf at the back and the beam was reflected vertically down the instrument be means of the prism forming part of the scheme. The diagrams came out very distinctly on the ground glass plate in the cases of the diaphragms of all the ratings which they were able to show me. I asked them if I could be shown a diagram taken with a light spring diaphragm in order to see if the variations of pressure during the exhaust and suction strokes would be satisfactorily reproduced, as this would seem to be as important a use of the instrument as that of finding the I.H.P. of an engine. (Contd). | ||