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).
Failure of a transmission coupling, its likely cause of torque overload, and potential design solutions.
| Identifier | Morton\M3.2\ img028 | |
| Date | 31th March 1925 | |
| TO R.{Sir Henry Royce} FROM E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} Copy to O.I. Copy to - HS.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} SECRET [stamped over with ORIGINAL] E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} A.{Mr Adams} C. FAILURE OF TRANSMISSION COUPLING. 48305 We received a telegram from HS.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} announcing the above yesterday, and we sent AJS. off at once to handle the matter in Derby. We are awaiting further particulars of the failure. In the meantime it would appear likely that the joint has failed due to pure torque overload, not to any deflection in the transmission line. It is not possible to fit a larger joint in the existing position without fouling the gearbox arm and the starter gear. The present joint is 6.4" dia. by .625. There is some prospect of getting in a thicker joint by changing the construction of the gearbox 1st. motion shaft. Also of mounting the joint on crankpin drives instead of pinching it to thin flange ears by a bolt passing through both, at the same time bearing in mind the difficulty of getting it down. It looks as if we may have to return to the simple metal serrated joint at the gearbox and fit a fabric joint (or rubber block coupling) of larger size purely for damping the over-run vibration half way along the transmission shaft where there is room in front of the cross member. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} | ||