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 from The Young Accumulator Co. to Sir Malcolm Campbell regarding a battery failure and a request to supply batteries to specification.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 164\4\ img114 | |
| Date | 12th July 1933 | |
| COPY. THE YOUNG ACCUMULATOR CO. (1929) LTD., BURLINGTON WORKS, ARTERIAL ROAD, NEWMALDEN, Surrey. Sir Malcolm Campbell, 6, Old Bond Street, LONDON, W.1. 12th July, 1933 Dear Sir Malcolm, As Mr. Ponaasen had to go away to-day he has asked me to thank you for your letter and efforts with Rolls-Royce. We are afraid that the battery they had to test was fitted with some of the Wilderman Separators which were later found to be unsatisfactory owing to too low a sulphur content and for the past twelve or fifteen months a harder ebonite has been used in the manufacture of Wilderman Separators. As you are aware we made batteries for Bentley Motors for four years and many of these are still giving good service after five years' use and all these batteries were fitted with wood separators. Less than one per cent were returned for faults or errors of any description throughout the four years we supplied Messrs. Bentley Motors. All our batteries are hand made and we do not make cheap mass produced batteries as we feel sure you will agree from your own inspection of these works. We should of course be very pleased to make to any special instructions for Messrs. Rolls-Royce if they would allow us to do so using thick plates with double separation - not Wilderman porous ebonite which we are giving up - and whilst we quite understand their reluctance to make a change whilst they are getting good service, we should very much like to have another chance to show that we do make a good battery and one with a long life (as our experience with Bentley Motors for instance has shown) even though Messrs. Rolls-Royce were not prepared to make a change. You will, I am sure, appreciate our anxiety to rehabilitate our good name and we should be grateful if you could obtain permission for us to supply one or several batteries made to Messrs. Rolls-Royce specification when we feel confident that such a favour would enable us to do so. With kind regards, Yours sincerely, (Sgd.) C. H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} ROBOTTOM. | ||