Investigating elusive battery ignition misfires on production Goshawk chassis under warm engine conditions.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 45\4\ Scan046 | |
| Date | 28th October 1928 | |
| To R & E. {Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} from EFC. {E. Fowler Clarke - Electrical Engineer} c. CJ. & FN. c. Ry c. EP. {G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer} c. Da. {Bernard Day - Chassis Design} x4079 a EFC {E. Fowler Clarke - Electrical Engineer} /T28.10.28. RE BATTERY IGNITION ON GOSHAWK(Aero Engine)(Codename for 20HP Car / Aero Engine after Kestrel(Aero Engine)). We have experienced on one or two of the first 20 production Goshawk(Aero Engine)(Codename for 20HP Car / Aero Engine after Kestrel(Aero Engine)) chassis ignition trouble of a very elusive nature so that it has not been by any means easy to locate and therefore impossible to immediately remedy. The strange part about the phenomenon is that except in the case of the coil failure which occurred with Hs. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} when driving 4-Gos.II to Le Canadel(Henry Royce's French residence), we have not had similar trouble with the experimental Goshawk(Aero Engine)(Codename for 20HP Car / Aero Engine after Kestrel(Aero Engine))s, neither have the Test Dept. been able to reproduce this phenomenon on the ignition system of 7-Gos.II. On the Goshawk(Aero Engine)(Codename for 20HP Car / Aero Engine after Kestrel(Aero Engine)) chassis on which this trouble has been experienced, the effect has been that when the engine has been thoroughly warmed up ignition misfires have developed under slow speed full throttle conditions, e.g. under acceleration, particularly with retarded spark, and in some cases the misfires have developed so badly as temporarily to prevent the engine from firing at all. It was observed, however, that either by cutting out the ballast resistance wholly or prtly, matters can be improved. In the former case missing would be eliminated; in the latter, it might be temporarily eliminated only to occur again under still higher temperature conditions under the bonnet. It was, therefore, natural in the first instance to put this down to coil weakness and this was largely confirmed when on again putting these coils through the same | ||
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).