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).
Faulty Lodge spark plugs, discussing their failure during testing, and a dispute over their usage conditions.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 162\6\ img063 | |
| Date | 6th March 1924 | |
| 44425 c. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} [REDACTED]/NW.{N. Walker - Patents} EP{G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer}/CEP11/H6.3.24. re. FAULTY LODGE PLUGS. Referring to your memo Wd{Mr Wood/Mr Whitehead}3/NJ4.3.24, we have noted with interest the Lodge Plugs Ltd. Letter of the 3rd. inst. and we are now in receipt of the Model 'C' Plugs and the twelve Model H.3 Plugs which they promised to send to us. The former of these we are keeping in stock to use against any further failures. The latter we are arranging to test under various conditions and will report on the behaviour of these at a later date. With regard to the remark made by the Lodge Plug Ltd. to the effect that the defect in the plugs returned by us may possibly have been due to the plug having been subjected to too great a heat, we would point out that the plugs in question had only been run under ordinary conditions and had failed after a very small mileage. The plugs in question had been taken direct from our stock of new plugs and were fitted into a production chassis, preparatory to the chassis undergoing its final test. It was during this test that the plugs in question failed, and we should assume the maximum mileage that any of these plugs had run would be 70 miles. We note it is suggested by the Lodge Plugs Ltd. that possibly these plugs had been used on the dynamometer test. This was not so, as there are a certain number of plugs allocated specially for the dynamometer test and in the event of any of these plugs failing on the dynamometer test, we have agreed to pay a small nominal sum to have these plugs repaired, knowing that they have been subjected to more than ordinary running conditions. EP{G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer}/[SIGNATURE] | ||