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).
Visit to Vauxhall Motors Ltd. in Luton, detailing their drawing office procedures.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 127\4\ scan0128 | |
| Date | 16th June 1938 | |
| RM.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} CARY 1097 BY/NS.{Norman Scott}18/G.16.6.38. VISIT TO VAUXHALL MOTORS LTD., LUTON. 13TH. JUNE 1938. The Chassis Drawing Office at Vauxhall Motors Ltd. has recently been housed in a new building, it is situated on the top floor and is well lit with plenty of windows. The layout is such that the Blueprint Room and Stores are adjacent to the D.O. This reduces walking about after drawings to a minimum. D.O. Staff. The D.O. staff is approximately the same size as the RR. Design and Detail Office. There is no separate design staff; in practice the layout men are generally occupied with design work. They give a hand with detail work on the major jobs. Generally, the specialists stick to their own section, and the detail men are moved around as the work demands. All the detail work is checked over by checkers before it is issued, they say that this tends to assist standardisation. Tracings. No ink tracings are produced, in view of this there is no Tracing Office. The pencil tracings of both schemes and details are stored in the Strong Room. The Strong Room is on the same floor as the D.O., and was built by the Milner Safe Co. The design layouts are drawn in pencil on special tracing cloth, manufactured by B.J.Hall. They claim that it does not stretch or shrink, and lasts longer than paper tracings. Tracings from the Strong Room can only be had on the Chief Draughtsman's signature. Blueprints. Blueprints for the whole of the Vauxhall plant and also for factories abroad, are taken off on two machines, operated by a male staff of 8. When drawings are issued for production 7 prints are taken off, two are filed in the D.O. Blueprint Stores, | ||