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).
Proposal to replace the existing conduit wiring system on 40/50 and 20/25 chassis with a new type of cable.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 168b\2\ img246 | |
| Date | 7th March 1932 | |
| SECRET To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst. c. SG.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} WCR. c. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} Ds. c: Ry. FN. CHASSIS WIRING. We consider the present conduit system of wiring on our 40/50 and 20/25 chassis to have disadvantages for the following reasons :- (a) It is very inflexible because any small alteration in chassis design particularly at the dashboard involves alteration to the design of the conduit systems. (b) It is expensive. (c) With adequate fuse protection in each circuit as we have recommended, this elaborate method of wire protection from damage is unnecessary. (d) Considerable progress has been made in developing cables which does away with the necessity for conduits. Cars which have been on the road for some time show the cables inside the conduits to be in very poor condition. We have obtained from Ripaults Ltd. and the British Insulated Cables Ltd. samples of cables with a varnished cambric sleeving woven direct on to the cable, which is impervious to the action of oil, petrol, water and also protects the rubber dielectric from the hardening effect of heat. The mechanical protection is also very good. This cable is supplied with single, double and triple cores so that in cases where more than one wire run together for any distance, a multicore single cable could be used. By using these cables on our chassis the conduits would be unnecessary - all that would be required being occasional frame clips. We should thus save the cost of conduiting the wires. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} has agreed that it is worth while trying the scheme out and we are arranging to wire a chassis experimentally to test the scheme out. We hope to effect an economy of approx. 50% in the cost of wiring the chassis with this scheme without sacrificing reliability. On J.III and Peregrine we consider we should in any case start off without conduits. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst. | ||