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).
Testing the Bijur Starter Drive, detailing the cause of failures and comparing performance.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 40\6\ Scan050 | |
| Date | 2nd February 1923 | |
| X3592 To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to CJ. c. to E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. to De. c. to BY.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}4/LG2.2.23. BIJUR STARTER DRIVE. X3587 X3592 We have tested and proved that oil will not cause the Bijur starter drive to fail. We have fitted a drive together after all the parts had been soaked in oil. There was no sign of the clutch slipping. During our tests we had failures for the following reason. As you are aware, the cork disc is pressed on to a light steel pressing which has projections on one side to take the drive from the cork disc and on the other side there are six pips pressed on it which fit into a washer to take the drive to the pinion. We found that unless care was taken in fitting the drive up, that play can occur so as to allow the pips on the pressing to become disengaged from the holes - once this happens the drive, of course, fails. It is only a question of making sure the parts are fitted together correctly to guard against this. We have made several thousand engagements but we cannot make the cork disc fail in the same manner as the one we sent to W.W. When 4-Goshawk-ll is back at the Works, we will compare the actuation of the Bijur drive on that car with the one on 7-Goshawk-ll which was the original one fitted, and which still gives a much smoother engagement than any of the standard Bendix drives. We consider we ought to persevere with the contd:- | ||