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).
Outlining the necessity for, and advantages of, a dedicated gearbox test rig.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 143\1\ scan0148 | |
| Date | 20th February 1936 | |
| To EJJ. c. to Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. to Hy.{Tom Haldenby - Plant Engineer} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/FJH.{Fred J. Hardy - Chief Dev. Engineer}4/KW.20.2.36. Equipment for Gearbox Test Rig. Re your EJJ.1/WB.{Mr Brazier/Mr Bell}10.2.36, the information you require is as follows. (a) The rig is necessary because, at present, we have no facilities for doing experimental work on the silence of gearboxes or for doing full torque tests, apart from the complete motor car. There are many experiments which could be done on the rig and which are impossible on the car. In contrast to our lack of equipment for gearboxes and gears in general, we have four test beds for work on the engine unit. (b) The advantages to be obtained from the installation of the rig are - (1) Information on the characteristics and weaknesses of new gearbox designs could be obtained at a very much earlier date than is possible with the present system of relying on 10,000 miles and dynamometer tests. Development work is invariably hampered by the fact that when a new car is introduced there is only one car for the first 6 - 12 months. (2) It would be a great advantage to be able to subject the gearbox to endurance tests corresponding to distances far greater than 10,000 or 20,000 miles. This is at present impracticable owing to the cost of road testing, but would be a simple matter on the rig. A recent instance of the value of this was the failure of the Ph.III 3rd speed gear after 30,000 miles. It would have been quite possible for this weakness to have been discovered after many cars were in the customers' hands, with expensive consequences. (3) Research work on gearbox problems, which at present is either not carried out at all or is done at great expense of time and money due to the impossibility or difficulty of working on the road, could be done with ease on the rig. It is very important that we should be able to carry out an investigation into the strength of various forms of gear teeth in order to reduce the size and weight of our gearboxes. We are also badly in need of figures for the drag of synchromesh cones, but at present we have no rig for obtaining these. | ||