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).
Cause and potential cures for a rattling Bentley change speed lever.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 86\4\ scan0076 | |
| Date | 19th March 1934 | |
| X228 W/S. To Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} from E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. Wop. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} E.1/HP.19.3.34. re Bentley Change Speed Lever. Replying to your memo Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD}12/E9.3.34 concerning change speed lever rattles, a considerable amount of effort has been put in both by the development and the design to cure this rattle. This noise is not a simple vibration of one particular part but we found that the lever had a tendency to rattle in the gate and that the knob vibrated in various ways both vertically and horizontally, and that no perfect cure was found for all the noises set up. We do however claim that the present lever in use which has a rubber pad incorporated in the mechanism gives very little trouble, and that its main defect is a tendency to rattle in the gate at certain speeds. The ultimate cure of course is to have the gearbox separately mounted on the chassis. We rather thought we had satisfied our critics on this point but if you think it necessary we will go on further to incorporate a feature to deal with the remaining noise which we think, as mentioned above, comes from the gate. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} | ||