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).
Experiment on a clutch, comparing a sheet steel pressing with a light aluminium centre for the driven member.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\C\April1919\ Scan1 | |
| Date | 8th April 1919 | |
| To EH. from E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} Copy to CJ. " " EPC. ORIGINAL RECEIVED X.3523 RE EXPERIMENT ON CLUTCH, USING LIGHT SHEET STEEL PRESSING OR LIGHT ALUMINIUM CENTRE FOR DRIVEN MEMBER. Referring to your memo in respect to the above, in which you state that the difference in changing gear was not appreciable when using a light aluminium driven member, kindly note that in view of this it is no using making the experiment suggested. Your reply shews that all of the troublesome weight is in the fabric and the rim on which the fabric is carried. Mr. Royce points out that the objections to carrying fabric on the flywheel itself are - (1) The heating up of the fabric, owing to the friction surface now being remote from the flywheel, we lose the advantage of the flywheel mass carrying off the frictional heat. (2) The fabric surface runs out of truth, and causes uneven taking up. It is not desired therefore to attempt to fix the fabric to the flywheel. Perhaps you could supply weights of the fabric and fixings and the present aluminium centre. We should then have a rough idea of what the difference in the moment of inertia would be of this particular part, if a sheet metal pressing were used. Amelioration only seems to lie in the direction of the multi-plate clutch it is proposed to use later on. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} | ||