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).
Extract from a letter to Commander Bristow regarding the development of a battery ignition system for aero engines.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 37\1\ scan 010 | |
| Date | 26th April 1917 | |
| B.B. Ellis (500 T) (S.D. 408. 26-4-17.) Bm. 2/156/13. X.3199. X.3199 X.2512 X.1819 R6/W5917 Extract from letter to Commdr. Bristow. X 3173 Battery Ignition for Aero Engines Regarding the battery ignition this has to be delayed owing to pressure of other work, andwe find there are many deficiencies in the present standard systems which have to be corrected before they could be applied very successfully, amongst them being the terminals and arrangements of the high tension wires. We can send you at once nearly the whole arrangement for your approval, but have not quite finished the question of the terminals. We are arranging as far as possible that the system shall be less affected by rain or sea water than most exsiting systems, although we cannot say that it will be practical to adopt it entirely waterproof. Amongst the arrangements we have made is the location of the condenser quite near to the contact maker, and the placing of the coil in a position to avoid crowding and out of the way. It may go either in the neighbourhood of the engine arm or underneath the magnetos. This might have been too far off for the condenser so we have kept the condenser directly attached to the contact maker. We have taken advantage of the condenser box as a means of connecting to the low tension conductor, and the arrangement seems very promising. We feel certain that we shall entirely finish teh work this week but these small electrical fittings require much time to get a really practical scheme. | ||