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).
Performance of new Watford chassis magnetos and comparing them with competitors M.L. and B.T.H.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 65\3\ scan0070 | |
| Date | 29th August 1927 | |
| To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from EFC. c. BJ. BY.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} c. Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} RG.{Mr Rowledge} ewB X 7791 EFC4/T29.8.27. CHASSIS MAGNETOS. X.7791 X8790 Your ref. RL/M27.8.28. The new Watford sleeveless magnetos are shewing good promise. The two which we have received from Mr. North - one a week ago and one yesterday - are, we understand, entirely representative of the machines they would offer us on production. The electrical performance of these magnetos is now much improved and complies with our specification of performance with very slight exceptions. The timing is more normal, i.e. more nearly in agreement with that which would be expected on principle. The cams are longer and the contact breakers quieter, though we are of the opinion that there is still room for improvement, e.g. they have not yet proposed to use continuous cam rings which we believe are better for silence. The range is 58º as required. We are of the opinion that we have now arrived (in these machines) at so nearly what we require as to render of little value any consideration of what may be offered by other English firms, such as M.L. and B.T.H. Just two years ago the M.L. Company looked over a copy of our General Specification of chassis magneto performance and informed us that they could not give us a greater range than 40º as against 58º as required by the specification. We therefore discontinued negotiations with that firm. In regard to the B.T.H. we had considered their type FM6 magneto as recently as a year ago. They also were not prepared to give the full range we required and in | ||