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 advising against battery ignition for cars in Australia, contrasting the conditions with America.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 37\1\ scan 125 | |
| Date | 9th September 1921 | |
| To Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} from Ft. X.3199 Pt14/EP{G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer}19-9-21. 2 Smail St, Off Bay St, Sydney. I am in receipt of yours Esl/LGS-8-21 re the advisability of fitting battery ignition for cars which may be exported to this country, and in reply beg to say that forthe reasons set out below I cannot possibly recommend you to make this your sole means of ignition. In America where battery ignition has become very popular, service stations for batteries are to be found every few miles,- the country is thickly populated, and the percentage of cars to the population is very high indeed, therefore the service stations pay. Here there is a very small population, scattered over a very big country, and service stations are few and far between, nor is there any inducement to any battery maker or car maker, even with the best of intentions, to multiply their service stations here until there is a very great increase in population. Cars are a necessity in Australia, and find their way into all the back-blocks where they are used as occasion demands, but where they are frequently left for long periods without use, and as there is no means of charging same on the sheep runs and farms, the batteries soon become in a very neglected state. In cases of this kind, if battery ignition alone were fitted it would be impossible to start the car up, whereas the magneto, no matter how neglected, is always ready when called upon. Again, the roads here are so very bad that the batteries are asked to withstand physical abuse for which they were never designed or intended, with the result that they frequently leak and break down, particularly in regard to the rigid connections between the cells. Batteries are always apt to be neglected as regards topping up with distilled water and removal of the incrustation due to sulphating, and in this respect the battery calls for a great deal more attention from the car owner than does the car with magneto ignition. Few owners dream of going round regularly with Distilled water and vaseline, and this is necessary comparatively frequently in a country like this where owing to the hot climate the evaporation takes place extremely rapidly. No matter how neglected a magneto may be it will start the car up, and same can be run to some place where occasional attention can be given if necessary, whereas a battery if neglected prevents the car from being moved at all, and is moreover a heavy, cumbersome, and owing to its contents, more or less dangerous parcel for a man to take in from a country sheep run to the nearest town on horseback. The point is that a battery can go phut for nothing at all but normal usage, such as leaving lights on for a long period when standing, and to my mind it is a very dangerous thing to leave the capability of running the car to such a delicate and susceptible part as the present-day battery. No matter how good a car may be built, if some small thing prevents it being run when wanted the car gets the blame. Owners do not stop to think that that portion which is giving them the trouble is not manufactured by the car maker, they only realise that it was supplied with the car, and the maker is therefore held largely responsible, and his (OVER | ||