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).
Customer complaints regarding 40/50 HP chassis springing and ongoing experiments to resolve the issues.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 67a\2\ scan0182 | |
| Date | 17th September 1928 | |
| To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from BJ. Springing. 40/50 HP BJR/E17.9.28 Chassis. I have just received from the Inspection Department an analysis of all outstanding 40/50 HP complaint cases registered in their department to date. I know you like to be kept conversant with customers' complaints and, therefore, am sending you the summary as follows:- Total number of outstanding Complaints of all kinds....48 Of these springing cases represent..................23. The 23 springing cases are divided as follows:- Pre Hydraulic dampers on either axle............6. Hydraulic dampers on front axle only..........4. Hydraulic dampers on both axles...............13. I know you are doing everything possible to improve the springing and shock absorbers as soon as possible and that suspension has always been one of our difficulties, especially of late years and since the introduction of the front wheel brakes. I gather from the latest reports from Sales officials that with this chassis at slow speeds - say up to 25 miles an hour - owners complain a good deal of springing on pot-holy roads, and that one of their difficulties is that they are unable to adjust the shock absorbers so that it is difficult to set the shock absorber both for slow running and speed work. I understand the Works are also making experiments with the American type of springs and obtaining results from running Dunlop tyres at very low pressures, but unfortunately the pressures appear to be so low that the manufacturers will not approve from the point of view of either safety or rapid deterioration. We are of course extremely interested in all the experiments which are being made and look forward to conclusions being reached which will be the best possible compromise on this very difficult problem. BJ. | ||