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).
Visit to U.S. electrical component factories to assess Bosch and Westinghouse starter motors, generators, and magnetos.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 49\5\ Scan064 | |
| Date | 2nd February 1921 | |
| To R. {Sir Henry Royce} from Hs. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to CJ. c. to BN {W.O. Bentley / Mr Barrington} c. to K. {Mr Kilner} c. to Da. {Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. to EP. {G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer} c. to BY. {R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} c. to EWT. for R.R.Inc. AMERICAN ELECTRICAL UNITS. During my visit to the U.S.A., I went with Mr. Olley to the Bosch Factory, Springfield, also the Westinghouse Factory at Springfield. BOSCH. When the Bosch people first approached me, I told them that we had no use at all for the Starter Motor and Generator of their make which had been sent to England and that owing to the Starter and Generator being such poor quality, we did not consider that they were the class of Firm we could trust to make a consistently reliable Magneto. They first wished to know in what way the Starter and Generator had failed. I told them that we had condemned them from examination. They then pointed out that the Starter Motor and Generator which had been sent to England was the type which they sell in a competitive market. The price they obtain for the Starter Motor is 15 dollars each - they also obtain 15 dollars for the Generator. R-R Springfield gave me 216 dollars as the price they pay for the R-R Starter Motor less Epicyclic Gear. This price, of course, includes duty and freight. I had to admit that if one pays only approximately £3 for a complete Starter Motor, that one cannot expect a very high-class job, but added that, in any case, we were not interested in that class of electrical unit. We then discussed Magnetos - I told them that we considered the German Bosch the best Magneto and that I had got one fitted to the Car I had brought over. They asked if I would mind taking the German Bosch off 4.EX Car and dismantling it to see in what way it was superior to theirs. We completely dismantled both Magnetos and compared the parts. I had to agree that on the essential parts such as - Armature and Contact Breaker, the U.S.A. parts looked equally as good as the German. We then assembled the machines and tested them for efficiency. On this test we found that the U.S.A. machine was better both for low speed sparking and high speed sparking. I still maintained that although they had shown to me that one of their magnetos was better than the Watford for workmanship and efficiency, and Contd. | ||