Letter discussing issues with friction and hydraulic suspension systems and potential improvements.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 43\2\ Scan175 | |
| Date | 8th November 1926 | |
| Oy5-E-11826 -2- November 8th, 1926 The R.R. friction type is good until the car reaches its tramping speed (about 50 m.p.h. if the wheels are out of balance or out of truth) when a violent tramping is set up, without however any tendency to shimmy. The Houdailles give a constant small jouncing from the axle movement but slightly less tendency to shimmy. The R.R. hydraulics could not be tested very well because they refused to hold oil for more than 150 miles. We are on the point of trying to improve them by using a heavier oil instead of the Lovejoy oil that we were using, and also getting "Vim" leather gland packings on the rocking shaft. The difficulty probably will be to get a heavy enough oil with a zero cold test. Can you arrange to bring us the latest information, valves, valve springs, and other gadgets, for the R.R.hydraulics. Also can you devote as much time as you can spare to actual riding in English cars, so that when you come here you can ride in our efforts and tell us (a) whether they ride as well as the English (b) whether our road conditions strike you as being the same as the English or otherwise. Yours very truly, Maurice Olley MO/E | ||
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).