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).
Continued report on testing the engagement of a motor pinion with the flywheel, detailing faults found during bench and chassis trials.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\Q\2April1927-June1927\ 96 | |
| Date | 10th May 1927 guessed | |
| -2- Contd. teazer terminal to the carcase in the first instance, and from the teazer terminal to positive brush (to prevent the current going through the armature) in the second instance. On a previous test on the bench without the flywheel rack for the pinion to engage, so that the motor turned and did not pull itself right up to the stop, the amount by which it failed fell short being about 1/4". If, still on the bench, the current were taken off at the motor positive brush so as to prevent it passing through the armature, it still did not draw itself right home against the spring. When on the chassis the first fault of the system to show up was that the motor began to rotate too soon and too quickly for the pinion to engage the flywheel. In fact, the intermittent contact between the teeth caused the pinion to bounce off, and it was only by chance that sometimes on first applying current, the pinion would engage the flywheel in such a way as to prevent the motor from turning. In cases of such chance engagement, or alternatively when the pinion was helped into engagement, the friction between the teeth, due to the pressure necessary to neutralize the armature torque, was seen to prevent further sliding into gear. If a trial were made without passing the current through the armature, engagement would, as might be expected, sometimes take place, but complete engagement would not occur, although of course the pinion would go in much deeper | ||