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).
Article explaining the layout and function of the Westinghouse Morse cam-shaft drive and chain adjustment system.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 32\3\ Scan025 | |
| Date | 31th December 1919 guessed | |
| Herts., are putting on the market a new chain adjustment which is used already for a number of American cars. The feature of this device is that the magneto driving-shaft remains always in the same position, only the driven sprocket changing its centre. To accomplish this, the construction is as shown in the illustration. First of all, the sprocket is mounted and rotates on a stationary bronze shaft, which is held eccentrically in the timing case and is drilled out to receive the magneto driving-shaft. On the side of the sprocket two V shaped bosses are machined which engage with recesses in one face of a gunmetal ring on the opposite face of which other grooves are formed to engage with tongues on a flange, which is a part of the magneto driving-shaft. Thus the sprocket drives the gun metal disc, which, in turn, drives the magneto-shaft, the whole of the gear being within the timing case itself and lubricated by the oil picked up by the chain. D28 THE LAYOUT OF THE MORSE DRIVE. The parts of the Westinghouse Morse camshaft drive and chain adjustment. The upper sprocket would be on the crankshaft, the large sprocket on the camshaft, and the small sprocket, from which the chain has been withdrawn, on the magneto driving-shaft. On this latter sprocket is the adjustment, which has been disconnected. an automatic adjustment, which, incidentally, prevents chatter. This is done by placing behind the sprocket small coil springs which tend to force the V shaped projections on the sprocket more deeply into the recesses in the gunmetal ring, and also has a similar action with regard to the tongues on the end of the magneto-shaft. It is possible to adjust the chain while the engine is running, and in any case the advantage of an adjustment is obvious, since a slack chain will effectually alter the timing of the valves. The links of the Morse chain are made up of a series of small plates, each conforming to the shape of two teeth and held together by two pins so arranged that the bending of the chain as it travels over the sprocket is taken care of by one pin rolling or rocking against the other. The action between these pins relative to each other is the only movement in each joint, and as the pins are hardened, wear in the chain is consequently reduced to a minimum. | ||