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).
Technical discussion on valve design, shock dampers, and other chassis components.
Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\V\October1930-February1931\ Scan323 | |
Date | 10th February 1931 guessed | |
(2) It is agreed that knife edge seatings are good for valves (replenishing) because less liable to get dirty, and large balls with small lift also good. I prefer vertical motion, but appreciate, and noticed, some advantage in horizontal motion. It occurred to me that the masked valves were introduced principally for silence: they might have very definite effects. The shock dampers have never given any trouble on this car or on any car I have used except on two occasions, one lost oil and slack lever due to central oiling scheme which was bad, and the 25HP. knocking because of outside links being slack in adjustment. We have not had internal knocks of any kind that we could detect either mechanical or hydraulic. (One thinks that it would be well to fit a small oil pipe to each shock damper and a suitable oiler under the bonnet so that the dampers could be easily replenished with clean oil.) Are not most of the internal noises due to loss of oil: this seems very likely and very difficult to avoid. I agree that we ought to try to get our horizontal ones right and perhaps continue that pattern. Mr. Hardy should, when he gets time, do some drawing to provide a design adapted to the present conversion and to a redesigned one of this type from which we have been scared (frightened away) by Lovejoy's probable patents - (pitiful position.) Mr. Bailey will continue to watch what we can do for patents, and production - slow up for improvement. HS{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/RM.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} and DA{Bernard Day - Chassis Design}/HDY.{William Hardy} will do their best to get some designs that I can admire. Certainly for cost and perhaps for reliability we should use cast iron bodies, but chassis are always getting heavier and if every part were to be increased in same proportion we should be a commercial lorry. It is now understood that we do not want short strokes with no damping because it permits of axle 'dither', otherwise it would be good for silent reverse, etc. One of the schemes I gave had a single piston valve for both directions. This could not have been noisy: it was suggested for easy reverse. I have no faith in double springs, or springs of very high rating. They cannot be made and kept in proper adjustment even if we thought they were good. Our scheme so far is that when a valve opens it should open freely its full lift, and all valves should only have small lift: too much free lift is a very usual pump valve fault. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||