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).
Elusive battery ignition trouble observed on production Goshawk chassis.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\I\October1922\ Scan58 | |
| Date | 28th October 1922 | |
| To R & R from EFC. c. CJ. & FN. c. Ry. c. EP.{G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer} c. Ds. ORIGINAL EFC1/T28.10.22. RE BATTERY IGNITION ON GOSHAWK. We have experienced on one or two of the first 20 production Goshawk chassis ignition trouble of a very elusive nature so that it has not been by any means easy to locate and therefore impossible to immediately remedy. The strange part about the phenomenon is that except in the case of the coil failure which occurred with Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} when driving 4-Gos.II to Le CanadelHenry Royce's French residence, we have not had similar trouble with the experimental Goshawks, neither have the Test Dept. been able to reproduce this phenomenon on the ignition system of 7-Gos.II. On the Goshawk chassis on which this trouble has been experienced, the effect has been that when the engine has been thoroughly warmed up ignition misfires have developed under slow speed full throttle conditions, e.g. under acceleration, particularly with retarded spark, and in some cases the misfires have developed so badly as temporarily to prevent the engine from firing at all. It was observed, however, that either by cutting out the ballast resistance wholly or partly, matters can be improved. In the former case missing would be eliminated; in the latter, it might be temporarily eliminated only to occur again under still higher temperature conditions under the bonnet. It was, therefore, natural | ||