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).
Analysis of faulty battery ignition parts from a 20 HP chassis, identifying bad contact points as the likely cause of failure.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 57\2\ Scan023 | |
| Date | 2nd June 1930 | |
| X5783.cl. To C. from EFC/HEW. C. EF. C. Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} EFC absent EFC/HAW/AD2.6.30. X.3485. FAULTY BATTERY IGNITION PARTS X.5783. X.2894. 20 HP. CHASSIS GXL-61. REP. C8/cl9.5.30. There parts have been duly received by us and the following is my assistant's report on the condition of the various items :- Coil. Although this passes our production test OK. we have noticed a tendency to misfire when run a number of hours. We ran the coil on 16-volts for 12 hours without any definite failure. Condenser. OK. Ballast resistance. OK. old single type. Contact points. Surfaces in very poor condition particularly the screw point which is badly oxidized. Considerable intermittent ignition might be expected with the contact points in their present condition. We should not expect absolute failure however as reported by C. only bad misfiring at low speeds. These tungsten points have been run on a contact breaker of the old type without scrubbing action and this would account for their poor condition. We recommend that wherever possible when platinum points are replaced by tungsten, the contact breaker should be modified to the up-to-date arrangement incorporating the semi flexible fixed contact point carrying support. The ignition coil has been subjected to further intensive test and so far as we can see it appears to be quite OK. Our present conclusion is that the ignition failure on this chassis must be due to the bad condition of the contact points. We are however, continuing with tests on the ignition coil in order to decide absolutely whether any failure inside the coil may have occurred. P.S. We now find the coil to be OK. EFC. | ||