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).
Issue with the Phantom III petrol tank on gradients and proposed solutions.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 95\4\ scan0201 | |
| Date | 29th January 1936 guessed | |
| To EV.{Ivan Evernden - coachwork} Copy to Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} X351 E/EV.{Ivan Evernden - coachwork}2/MN.21.136. Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Phantom III. Petrol Tank. There has been a report that on climbing a gradient of 1 in 5 on a 1 in 10 camber three to four gallons of petrol are in the tank which cannot be sucked out. This difficulty can be overcome in a measure by moving backwards the suction pipe, and we send herewith LeC 4934 showing a scheme for achieving this. It will be noticed that this change very much improves the conditions during hill climbing but aggravates the conditions when descending a hill. It may be contended that loss of suction under these conditions is not serious because the engine is not pulling, but we fear that there will be an objection to the noise created by the racing of the electric pump, and also to the possibility that the engine may not pick up immediately at the bottom of the incline. We recommend that the tank be called a 30 gallon tank and that the last three gallons be wasted. In a day or so we shall be sending to you a design for a tank having a conical base from which practically the whole of the petrol may be drawn under the stipulated worst conditions. This tank will have the smaller capacity of 30 gallons, and therefore is equivalent to the present tank with a gauge calibrated not to show the last three gallons. Its sole advantage would be that it would save weight to the extent of 20 to 23 lbs in that the three gallons of non-accessible petrol will not be carried. Ev.{Ivan Evernden - coachwork} Att: LeC 4934. | ||