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).
Engine running backwards due to magneto ignition timing and a request for a solution.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 181\M11\ img077 | |
| Date | 4th November 1917 | |
| [By from R.{Sir Henry Royce}] [c. to M.{Mr Moon / Mr Moore}] [c. to DE.] [c to Mr. Watson.] [For 7CA a 4a CB] [STAMP: ORIGINAL] [STAMP: RECEIVED - partially illegible] Re - M.{Mr Moon / Mr Moore} L. Magneto. X. 3209 A [STAMP: WET] We have great respect for Mr. Watson's work in this direction and shall be glad, in view of the possibilities of "After-the-War-Chassis" work, to have two or three magnetos suitable for our cars. Mr. Hives will attach one to 49-GB and one for 7-CA. I would like Mr. Watson to tell us whether it is possible for a magneto with a suitable length of cam to pre-ignite an engine and run it backwards in the way we have experienced lately on 7-CA. In this case the magneto was slightly advanced before the dead centre, but on retarding it to nearly the dead centre (standard position) we found the same thing to happen again. In this particular instance the engine was lubricated with very thin oil and bounced about rather vigorously after passing a compression. It was thought [the spark occurred] when the magneto was running backwards towards the corner of the cam where the make occurs and by breaking the low tension circuit by [running against the cam] a spark was given and as the exhaust system had not had a considerable amount of explosive mixture the engine ran backwards for several revolutions. It did exactly the same on the Remy ignition which was temporarily fitted. This particular car was one which was usually started with an electric starter but on the occasion mentioned the battery of the starter was run [down] and an attempt was made to start the [MARGIN NOTES]: X. 682 X. 2631 [Details] | ||