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).
Letter to the Earl of Rothes at The India Tyre & Rubber Co. Ltd. discussing findings on tyre noise.
Identifier | ExFiles\Box 30\5\ Scan147 | |
Date | 7th October 1935 | |
X1336 Exptl. Dept. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}16/KW. 7th October, 1935. The Earl of Rothes, The India Tyre & Rubber Co.Ltd., Mileage Dept. (Area 'B'), 80. Clapham Road, London, S.W.9. Dear Rothes, Thank you for your letter of the 6th November. I enclose a copy of our findings on tyre noise so far, which please treat as strictly confidential. Briefly the position is this. By cutting down the amount of non-skid tread portion from the outside of the tyre in contact with the road, we can reduce the amount of the particular tyre noise which is worrying us on the Phantom lll. By doing this it is probable that both the life of the tyre and the non-skid properties will suffer. However, we have got Dunlops to make us such tyres to carry on with. In the meantime, we have proved that the Americans have in some way managed to make their chassis less susceptible to tyre noise. For example, the Cadillac with the latest Dunlop '90' tyres fitted is perfectly silent over the low speed ranges of groans; therefore we have got to improve our chassis. The fact that most of the American tyres are as noisy as ours under similar conditions indicates the difficulties of designing a fundamentally silent tyre. All things considered, therefore, I do not think you should embark on trying to make a tyre which is free from groans at the moment. Yours sincerely, | ||