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).
Letter to The Hoyt Metal Co. reporting poor results from a comparative endurance test of 'Satco' bearing material.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 115\3\ scan0046 | |
| Date | 3rd September 1937 | |
| 1020. Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/Swdl.{Len H. Swindell}2/MH.{M. Huckerby} Messrs. The Hoyt Metal Co., Putney, London, S.W.15. 3rd. September 1937. Dear Sirs, We have now completed a comparative test on one of our 12 cylinder units with 2 R.R. whitemetal big ends, 2 in your Z3 material and 2 in your "Satco" material. After 15 hours endurance one of the "Satco" bearings ran or came completely out of the shell, the remaining "Satco" being in rather poor condition. The R.R. whitemetal and your Z3 were in approximately identical condition but considerably better than "Satco". It appears to us that one of the disadvantages of the latter is bad adhesion to the shell, as when machining them for use, half of them were scrap through lumps of the material coming away from the steel shells. The condition under which we ran, were, 4000 - 4500 R.P.M., oil inlet temperature of 100°C and pressure of 35lbs/ square inches, using Price's Motorine C oil. If you are interested we will send along a photograph of bearings, but frankly we are surprised at the poor results given by the "Satco" material. Yours faithfully, for ROLLS-ROYCE LTD. | ||