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).
20 HP car body and the design of silent axles and gearboxes for various models.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 41\3\ Scan252 | |
| Date | 21th December 1922 | |
| X3730 To B.J. from R.{Sir Henry Royce} c. to C.J. Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. to H.Y. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} R1/M21.12.22. "GOSHAWK", "SEAGULL", ETC. X.3730. X.9810 X.4219. With reference to the 20 HP. and the photograph, I will get this done as soon as the 20 HP. arrives here with the Hooper body. The one we have here now has not a very good shaped body. We are expecting No.4. (Hooper body) to return every day. It is being painted. Regarding the silence of the axles I am pleased to hear Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} is very optimistic that the Goshawk back axle will be satisfactory. Naturally we are never absolutely sure about anything, but my impression is that the Goshawk has the quietest type of axle that we know how to build, because it has a complete aluminium box of very rigid shape and the pinion has an inside roller bearing, the whole gear being very rigidly supported. Thus we consider we have been rather extravagant and have done all we know that the bevel shall have the essentials that contribute towards silence. The present 40/50 box being a steel box with an over-hanging pinion is not fundamentally in our opinion of such a silent type. Naturally it will take some little time to get just the best finessing of the bevels, both the cutting and the setting etc. The same points apply to the gearbox. In this too we have been somewhat extravagant by using intermediate bearings along the shafts. Both these units, we believe, if once made silent, will remain so, in fact our experience is, especially contd:- | ||