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).
Comparison of Watford, Lucas, and Simms magneto systems regarding performance, noise, weight, and operation.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\O\2January1926-March1926\ Scan28 | |
| Date | 27th January 1926 | |
| Contd. -3- EFC4/T27.1.26. the results are a little inferior to those obtained on the Watford with the use of the sleeve. The advantage of not having the sleeve on the magneto will be appreciated in that there will be no intermittent pull of the advance and retard mechanism with its various joints, and further that it will not take so much average force to operate the lever, and this, in view of the reduced oil pressure, which may be adopted, might be a decided advantage. Taken all round, the Lucas magneto appears to be a very promising proposition and we are only awaiting one of these which purports to have a specially silent contact breaker cam, before putting one of them on a chassis. As regards the actual observed silence of operation, the bearings of the Lucas appear to be a little noisy; the machine was otherwise quite quiet in operation. As regards the Simms, the contact breaker was noisy and there was some bearing noise at high speeds. The tangential force to operate the cam lever was, for the Lucas, 1 lb. and for the Simms, 2 to 2 1/2 lbs. The Lucas machine is within our weight limit. The Simms is a good deal heavier, but of course this could be quite a lot reduced in weight by replacing the bronze castings by aluminium, and for the time being it is understood that we are making tests with this in view. Contd. | ||