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).
In-house manufacturing of Bakelite moldings and comparing Bosch, Delco, and Remy ignition systems.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 61b\4\ scan0078 | |
| Date | 16th February 1921 | |
| R.R. 936A-(100 T) (S.H. 798. 10-12-20) G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} 2947 -3- R11/G16.2.21. Contd. for us to get hold of a reasonably inexpensive source of mouldings of bakelite and ebonite, otherwise we cannot hope ever to be capable of manufacturing at a reasonable rate. My advice is that Mr. Clark should find out who controls the bakerlite patents in England, and see what it involves to put down a small plant to make our own mouldings. You must remember that U.S.A. Bosch, and others may be offering their productions below coste to get in, and so induce us to give up the idea of making our own, after which we should be asked a profitable price to continue. They will know that it would not pay us to be often changing our pattern, which would be necessary if we bought in another market. With reference to the Bosch ignition set, we notice that they twist the wires round to advance the ignition by hand. I do not know that this matters, but it is considered not so good as the Delco, in which the wires are stationary. We have never seen this Bosch ignition on any car, and we are of the decided opinion that it should be criticised and tested before any thought of adoption. Whereas, the Delco we have had considerable experience with, and should consider it would be found more reliable. This ignition, however, as far as we know, has still the defects that it will fire back, as all the other American ignition sets we know of. This is not an imaginery fault, but has occurred to us personally, the first and nearly every time the electric starter has been out of order. It occurred with the Remy ignition on the R.R. car, and Delco on the Buick. Contd. | ||