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).
Improving vehicle headlamps and the resulting electrical challenges for dynamos and batteries.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 165\6\ img190 | |
| Date | 8th February 1929 guessed | |
| -2- should be quite simply arrived at by electrical or optical means. Side lamps whilst having to conform to the law in order to give approaching vehicles an indication of the overall width of cars ahead should be brightenough only for such purpose and not required to give any light on the road; up to now such lamps have both been hopelessly ineffective for lighting the road and equally hopeless as causing dazzle to oncoming vehicles. The present standard headlamps we are using do not illuminate the road ahead anything like enough and we are testing and examining more powerful headlamps with a view to improving this condition, but it follows that the more powerful lamps will take probably 25% more current. We are already in the undesirable position that when our various necessary electrically operated devices are in use at night, that the dynamo is unable to take charge of this amount of current so that the batteries in the hands of quite a large number of owners gradually get into an undesirable and low condition, more early requiring that skilful attention which accumulators so seldom receive. Will you let us know as soon as possible whether you can quite simply so alter the character of the dynamos on our Chassis to be supplied, that without any structual alterations or modifications entailing a serious cost, the output of the generators can be made heavier and not fall away so soon with the risd of speed. PN.{Mr Northey} WS | ||