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).
Meeting notes discussing an accident caused by a steering pivot failure on a customer's car and proposed preventative inspections.
Identifier | ExFiles\Box 2\12\ B002_X168-page001 | |
Date | 8th December 1911 | |
STEERING (Contd.) (9) 96th Meeting Re accident occurring to steering pivot of Dec. 8. 11 customer's car. Mr. Nadin read a note from Mr. Johnson CJ21/D71211 concerning the failure of Mortimer Singer's steering pivot. "With reference to the accident by Mr. Mortimer Singer's car, is it likely that there may be other cars of ours on the road which may be liable to a similar accident? It is a terrible thing to imagine one of our cars going along the road with no communication between the driver's hands and the front wheel." The Committee agreed that we were taking every precaution possible to prevent faulty forgings and material being used on our cars, but that it was possible for flaws and cracks to exist in the interior of material, in such a manner that these could not be detected by any system of inspection, however rigorous. It was suggested that we might start some system of inspection of cars in the customers hands, with respect to the complete steering gear alone, because this is the vital part of the car. This inspection should be periodic, and would of course necessitate a considerable amount of trouble and expense. Such a scheme might have prevented the X168 | ||