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 free-wheel system for the third gear and the decision not to apply it to the Phantom car.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 15\5\ Scan132 | |
| Date | 2nd June 1930 | |
| To SG.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} From Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. to E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. to PN.{Mr Northey} X7310. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}6/MJ.2.6.30. V523 X7310 EASY CHANGE THIRD GEAR. Replying to Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD}13/E30.5.30. You will see from our reports that the free-wheel which we have been running on the 20 HP. car has failed. Before we could consider adopting this, it will have to be made much more reliable. Although we shall persevere with the free-wheel scheme in order to have something which can be applied to existing cars cheaply, we are not in favour of free-wheel. The free-wheel has been widely advertised and 'boomed' in order to reduce the troubles of changing gear, but the scheme has not caught on. We have no designs for applying the free-wheel to the Phantom car. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||