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).
The examination and failure of the Titan Safety Steering Stabiliser, concluding with a recommendation against its approval.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 153\2\ scan0339 | |
| Date | 24th June 1937 | |
| To E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} from Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/FJH.{Fred J. Hardy - Chief Dev. Engineer} c. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. W/Iv. 1300 RE: THE TITAN SAFETY STEERING STABILISER. We have removed the Titan Stabiliser from the Vulture chassis for examination. We find that the shaft connecting the external lever to the inertia weight has failed by twisting, and that the cover of the mechanism has fallen off allowing the internal lever and sliding block to disappear. This mechanism was fitted to the Vulture about two years ago, and, so far as we can ascertain, improved the steering slightly. We attribute this to the large amount of friction rather than any inertia effect. If the inertia effect were appreciable it seems to us that there would be a risk of aggravating low speed wobbles by lowering the flap frequency of the front wheels. Although in the case of the Vulture, the failure of the mechanism was not noticed, it is conceivable that failure of some parts could lock the steering. The method of attaching the mechanism to the cross steering tube is very crude and it would be possible to flatten the tube by overtightening the clips on the tube. We consider that we should not give our approval to the fitting of this mechanism. Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/FJH.{Fred J. Hardy - Chief Dev. Engineer} | ||