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).
Vehicle suspension, comparing Hartford's and Delco dampers and considering future adjustable damping systems.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 16\5\ Scan017 | |
| Date | 2nd September 1931 | |
| -2- He.1/M.1.2.9.31.Cont'd.{John DeLooze - Company Secretary} Continental cars we are fitting Hartford's as well as our hydraulics. In a number of cases we are having to give customers Hartford's or getting them to pay for them in order to get satisfactory riding. The chief reason of the Hartford's is to provide an adjustable damping, and we think it would be far more satisfactory to make our own dampers adjustable than to add Hartford's which are not at all satisfactory. The adjustable damper would not have been practical until the recent modifications to the damper which we consider allows it to take bigger loads and still be reliable and free from noise. 25-EX. car has run over 15,000 miles in France with the dampers set to a very high loading. We are sure when that car returns, if it is used in London, it would give a much better ride if we could reduce the load of the dampers. We have the Delco shock absorbers with the adjustable leak and propose putting them back on to a Phantom car so that we can demonstrate the advantages in this simple adjustment. This will not prevent us carrying on with our own scheme but it may provide us with a means of getting an adjustable damper in much less time. On the general question of riding we shall be getting very near the limit of what can be done with the present conventional car. With our three ranges of springs with the spring leaves lubricated to give us consistent friction, and with adjustable damping, there will be very little left to be done. As riding is always going to be the most important feature of the car we may some day have to consider some form of anti-rolling device of the unconventional front springing such as the Lancia, which we still consider is the best type of front springing we have tried. Ha. Two prints attached. | ||