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).
Steering wobbles and tests on plain thrust bearings versus ball thrust bearings.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 28\4\ Scan041 | |
| Date | 15th August 1913 | |
| From Exp. Dept. Copies for:- Mr.Johnson. Mr.Royce. Mr.Radin. Mr.Day. Report on Steering Wobbles. X. 457. I have tried the steering gear fitted with plain thrust bearings instead of ball thrust in the steering column. The wobble of the front wheels is not felt so distinctly on the hand wheel, as it is with the ball thrust steering. It also minimises the shock to the hand rising from rough roads. More effort was necessary to steer the car, but I think this was because the thrust washers were not well enough made. I think this plain thrust is worth trying further, and suggest that we make a complete new thrust bearing designed to give more bearing surface, instead of using the existing ballrace as we have done in the present case. I have made tests to obtain the degree of irreversibilty on various makes of steering. The front of the car was packed up and a lever was fixed to the stub axle, a flexible cord was taken from the end of the lever over a large pulley and weights were applied to the end of the cord. The pull was applied in both forward and backward directions and the weights quoted below are the mean of the various tests. In each case the distance from the centre of the contd. | ||