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).
Comparison of a standard steering column with a proposed Marles column, detailing design, materials, and weight.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 28\3\ Scan119 | |
| Date | 20th February 1935 | |
| - 2 - Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design}1/HP.20.2.35. Top of column consisted of the standard Rolls-Royce parts from the present thrust bearing upwards. Control tubes issued from the bottom of the box by temporary arrangement not very satisfactory, I under-stand. screwed plug. The top of the column consists of an RR. wheel mounted on a short adaptor sweated or brazed to the worm tube. There may be a felt or rubber bearing immediately below the wheel, or it may be a needle roller bearing. Control tubes issued from bottom by something like standard RR. fitting, but difficult to get in. The flange fitting at the bottom of the proposed column is of malleable iron. This with the box itself will I think be the only malleable iron on RR. cars, the material having been banned for many years. The corresponding flange on the RR. column is of steel, extended and reinforced by a hollow rib. This fitting broke on one of the tests. The conditions are not quite the same, but nearly so. There was a fair amount of resistance to the suggestion of a steel forging on the Marles column. Personally I think we ought to insist. The steering torque on the Marles column is taken at the dashboard in the same way as RR., only more so. The Marles column as tested weighed approximately 10 lbs, (or 25%) heavier than the RR. column. We shall probably save a little of this. ATT: E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} | ||