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).
Investigation into why the platinum points burnt away on distributor No.65 from chassis 18-RC.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 70\3\ scan0148 | |
| Date | 29th December 1925 | |
| C O P Y EFC. WB.{Mr Brazier/Mr Bell}70. 29th December, 1925. DISTRIBUTOR NO.65 OFF CHASSIS 18-RC.{R. Childs} - BAINBRIDGE. The complaint against this distributor was that after only six weeks running (mileage 1050) the platinum points had almost burnt away. Upon inspecting this distributor we observed that all the inside metal parts and the distributor head were covered with a film of oil, and we strongly suspect that this is another case of failure due to the presence of oil vapour. However, we examined the condenser and found it to be O.K. (capacity .27 mf), and fitted new contact points, the distributor was run for the equivalent of 2500 miles on our bench rig. At the conclusion of this run the platinum points were observed to be in good condition, not exhibiting the slightest sign of flashing or burning, and we conclude that the failure was due to conditions obtaining on the chassis - possibly abnormal crankcase pressure due to a blow-back in one or more cylinders. EFC/HEW. | ||