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).
Letter to the Works Committee regarding slow petrol tank filling due to a Monel Metal filter gauze.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 135\2\ scan0036 | |
| Date | 4th March 1921 | |
| Oys - G 4321 March 4, 1921 Mr. Claude Johnson Managing Director, Rolls-Royce Ltd., London, England. Attention: Works Committee. Dear Sir:- Re: Filter Gauzes The Monel Metal filter gauze supplied by the Greening Co. of Hamilton, Ontario, has been found to give serious trouble through slow filling of the petrol tank. It is found to take 7 minutes to fill one of our standard tanks fitted with this gauze. With the former copper gauze, the time is 2 1/2 minutes. This matter has been complained of by customers, and has caused our own driver to be actually warned away from filling stations, which after filling the car once or twice, refused to do so again, because of the delay to other cars. The electric filling stations which are becoming common in this country, can pump our tank full in less than a minute when running at full speed, so that naturally they object to taking seven minutes over the job. These stations complain especially because of probable trouble to their pumping motors from running so slowly. The delivery filter at the bottom of the filter frame delivers petrol to the engine perfectly. The trouble occurs with the cylindrical inlet filter. The cause is that the air cannot escape fast enough through the wet gauze, and is entirely cured if five or six 5/16" holes are drilled through the brass frame at the top of the gauze. The tank with those holes can be filled in about 1 1/2 minutes. If the petrol rises level with the holes, it is immediately blown out through the filler opening by the out-rushing air, so that the rate of flow has to be decreased, and therefore very little petrol gets into the tank without pass- | ||