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).
Experiments with a petrol priming system for engine starting, discussing pressure, reservoir capacity, and spray nozzles.
Identifier | ExFiles\Box 31\3\ Scan028 | |
Date | 15th February 1915 | |
(150 H) (W.W. 927. 9-11-14) G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} 082T. -2- 15th. February, 1915. Wor{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager}/RH{R. Hollingworth}1/D15215. with six to seven strokes. I do not consider it is desirable to use any higher pressure, to do so we should have to do away with the release arrangement, and I think that would be a distinct disadvantage, at present the release acts as an excellent safety valve. As regards the small reservoir the capacity I recommend is 10 cu. ins., this gives us 1.75 cu. ins. of petrol for priming if the pressure in the petrol tank is 2 lbs, as an idea of the quantity this is equal to, the oil filler cap is filled up twice with petrol. This quantity of petrol is ample to start the engine, under some conditions of course much less could be used. We find that there is no advantage in having two separate compartments in the reservoir, but it is necessary to have a pipe which stands above the petrol level and finishes with a small nozzle with a .040" hole close to the tap, this allows the air to mingle with the petrol, without this the spraying is not good. The spray from this arrangement is not very fine, but we have found it quite fine enough, although there is a fairly high pressure there is only a very small quantity of air so that it is a puff and gone. During our experiments we have worked both cocks independently, we had not any suitable levers to connect them together. The whole scheme works quite well, the engine starts as readily as with the syringe or the U tube device. The advantage it has over the U tube is that there is no | ||