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).
Advertisement for the Stewart-Warner 'South Wind' gasoline car heater, featuring a technical diagram and safety report.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 137\3\ scan0031 | |
| Date | 28th January 1939 guessed | |
| 3 Years of Research and Test have Produced an Engineering Triumph Car owners have long wanted a heater that would produce heat quickly—large volumes of it. With the heaters that have been in general use, one all too frequently arrives at his destination before effective quantities of heat are available. Stewart-Warner decided that the answer lay in creating a unit that would be independent of engine temperatures—one that would have its own combustion chamber—and use very small quantities of the excellent fuel already at hand—gasoline. For three years, a large staff of industrial research engineers built, tore down, searched markets for new materials, ducted laboratory and road tests, and finally produced a unit that does everything the motoring public wants. A large volume of heat is available in from 1½ to 3 minutes—and perfect control, and safety under any conditions, are assured. The South Wind is turned on and off by a light pull or push on the control button ... its operation is entirely automatic ... and it is economical, costing considerably less than 1c an hour for completely satisfactory driving comfort, even on coldest days. Ready to install—nothing else to buy..... $19⁹⁵ From the report of the Fire Underwriters' Laboratories: "... it will be noted that the device is of such design and construction as to comply with the recognized good practice requirements. The Operation Test further showed that there is no possibility of toxic effects from the products of combustion, inasmuch as the entire heater system operates below atmospheric pressure." [Underwriters' Laboratories Seal] LISTED UNDER Underwriters' Laboratories REEXAMINATION SERVICE Considering the simplified view at the right, note that engine-intake suction, applied through the heater, draws gasoline from the carburetor. Mixed with air, this is burned in the small chamber below the “Electric Ignitor.” No flame reaches the “Heating Chamber”—only very hot vapors. Temperatures at the Radiating Fins surrounding the heating chamber, and across which the fan blows air, average about 400°. Waste gases are drawn into the motor and expelled at the exhaust—eliminating all possibility of fumes reaching passengers. [Diagram Labels] WALL BETWEEN PASSENGER AND MOTOR COMPARTMENTS FROM CARBURETOR TO INTAKE MANIFOLD COLD AIR MOTOR ELECTRIC IGNITER FAN HEATING CHAMBER FINS HEATED AIR AIR CONTROL KNOB IMMEDIATE HEAT — AND TWICE AS MUCH | ||