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).
Report discussing the performance, issues, and future redesign of shock dampers and related suspension components.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 16\4\ Scan212 | |
| Date | 22th November 1930 guessed | |
| (2) Our first move towards making these fittings give better satisfaction is to shorten the levers at the back so that the duty is performed with less stresses and to limit the movement of the axle, especially the recoil, by a wire rope sling which will prevent the rebound of the axle destroying the shock damper when fitted with the proposed shorter lever. Our future work will be to redesign these shock dampers. We have lately schemed a type of valve which considerably simplifies the construction of the relief valve part of this fitting making one valve and one passage to do the work of two, and we think that with this simplification it will be possible to control the effectiveness of the shock damper, at least in two stages, by the use of the hydraulic control from the driver's seat. In designing the shock dampers for the latest feature we hope to be able to considerably improve their reliability, and possibly the ease with which they can be made, because they will be less exacting as well as more permanent. Finally, I am surprised about the difficulties we have encountered in connection with this apparatus when it is considered what their duty is. There have been many attempts by RR. staff here and in U.S.A. to render them ineffective, but it has finally been decided that these attempts, such as drilling the valves or cutting the valve faces, though it has rendered the car riding at slow speed smoother, makes it dangerous at high speeds. This week I noticed for the first time a definite shock damper knock on the car I have been using. This I examined yesterday and found it to be the external connecting links, and it was corrected in a few minutes each by adjusting these. We estimated it to be about 6/1000" slack in each connection The slack in the external connections is not a serious matter and is what we expect to happen after some thousands of miles running. For about 12 months now these connections have been spring loaded, and I believe they do not require frequent attention, and actually wear much less than with the solid adjustment. The central oiling is also now attached to these joints; although I am not convinced that central oiling is perfectly reliable it is as good as we know how to make it, and contributes largely to the decreased wear of many of the chassis parts. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||