Schemes for a silent third gear, including an epicyclic design and fitting a freewheel to a Phantom car.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 6\2\ 02-page110 | |
| Date | 9th September 1930 | |
| To Sg. {Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} From Hg. 8523 Hg.3/W.9.9.30. X528 X5310 SILENT THIRD GEAR ETC. Replying to Sg {Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} 12/SS. {S. Smith} 9.30. We do not know definitely what form the schemes will take which R. {Sir Henry Royce} mentions in his memo 2l/Al.9.30. It would appear that he has gone back to a simple epicyclic gear in conjunction with a normal sliding gearbox, and in one case he will use brakes to operate the gear and in the other form jaw clutches. We believe R. {Sir Henry Royce} wishes to send the two schemes through together so that they could be tested simultaneously. He has the opinion that if we had a simple scheme we shall adopt that before we give the more perfect scheme a trial. Until the designs are completed it is impossible to say what form they will take. In the meantime we are endeavouring to fit a freewheel to the Phantom car which we have running with the Helical third speed. This is an easy change silent third in its most simple form. Hg. | ||
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).