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).
Test report on the performance of a fluid flywheel and gearbox, noting issues with overheating, noise, and efficiency loss.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 128\1\ scan0092 | |
| Date | 7th October 1930 | |
| -2- After this rather brutal treatment a small quantity of blue smoke and a smell of oil came into the driving compartment. Presumably this was due to the fluid flywheel having to absorb the whole of the kinetic energy of the car in bringing it to rest. As there is little provision for cooling on the flywheel case one would naturally expect oil to get hot under these circumstances. The box is noisy in neutral as the gears are then rotating. Normally when standing the car is left in top gear with the engine ticking over. The hand brake stops any slight tendency to move forward, whilst the fluid slips apparently not getting excessively hot. In traffic it is impossible to make a violent start in third or top, but there is no appreciable loss of acceleration in first or second. The indirect gears are not so quiet as the spool or ground helical, but are appreciably better than we can average on the standard type of gearbox. One disadvantage we noticed was that on flicking the accelerator pedal with the flywheel working, it was liable to stop as it slowed down. As previously mentioned, after severe abuse the oil in the fluid flywheel appeared to overheat. The gear we tried had done 2,500 miles demonstration, it is obvious there must be a slight loss of efficiency due to the slipping of the flywheel at all speeds. Not being conversant with the characteristics of the car it was | ||