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).
Technical memorandum explaining the front brake pull rod and equaliser mechanism during steering.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 73\3\ scan0241 | |
| Date | 1st November 1924 | |
| To PN.{Mr Northey} from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} With reference to PN{Mr Northey}15/DN5.11.24. The point you raise is one which has been carefully considered. In point of fact, when the front wheels are turned through any appreciable lock, the effective length of the pull rod on one side is decreased and the other increased by reason of the angular movement incurred. As you suggest, in practice this movement is very small, and actually the initial brake clearance is adjusted before the car leaves the works, so that both brakes are perfectly free on full lock. Even were this not so, however, it would be impossible for one front brake to be applied more violently than the other on a corner, because of the equaliser between the two pull ropes. In addition, even if initially both brakes were adjusted to minimum clearance, so that on full lock one pull rod actually brought the shoes of one brake in contact with the drum, no force could be exerted on this drum because the pull rod on the other side is tending to release the brake, and the two movements cancel out through the equaliser. This has been tried practically without the slightest detriment to the braking being noticeable. Were it not for the light tension set up by the pull-off spring, the angular movement of the actuating rod would not be able to even to draw the shoe in contact with the drum, as the displacement would be immediately cancelled by the movement of the rod on the other brake in the reverse direction. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||