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).
Issues and developments regarding petrol pumps, axle failures, steering, and propeller shafts.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 149\3\ scan0177 | |
| Date | 28th May 1941 | |
| To: Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Gry.{Shadwell Grylls} from Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}1/RH.{R. Hollingworth}28.5.41. 1063 MOTOR CARS. Referring to your Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Gry.{Shadwell Grylls}2/JA.11.5.41, 1. Petrol Pumps. Provision is made for mechanical petrol pumps on our new engines. I wish I could agree with you however, but mechanical petrol pumps were basically more reliable than electrical petrol pumps. There is no doubt that on a car with a large engine, where the under bonnet temperature is high, the electrical petrol pump is less likely to vapour lock. We have not yet had a complaint of a B.V. petrol pump in customers' hands. We are always trying new things on the pumps in the Experimental Department, and consequently we expect and get unreliability very frequently. 2. Failure of 30.G. Axle. If we had subjected a B.2. to the same treatment as we have given 30.G.VI., we should, I calculate, have used three or four sets of axle shafts. Nevertheless, the problem is to know whether the gears on this car were above or below the average we must expect on production. We are running a second set to establish the point. If we get the same result from the second set of gears, I am satisfied that trouble in customers' hands would be negligible if we specified a maximum weight for B.80's, and made the customer stick to it or else refuse to replace failures free of charge. 3. Steering. 3.B.50 represents the production steering for cars of this size. I think that you will agree it is very good. 4. Propellor Shafts. I can show you a B.50 with a smooth propellor shaft. We have now acquired skill in balancing them with a Jubilee clip. If, however, the shaft is free from vibration when the car is empty, roughness due to universal joint angularity comes up when the maximum load is carried in the back. This is worse than the single propellor shaft on the Wraith. It is not easy to replace the double with the single propellor shaft without raising the whole car. I believe that by working on the job, we shall get the split propellor shaft up to a very good standard. -Continued- | ||