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).
Gasoline feeding device invented by Mr. Twombley of New York.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\B\September1918\ Scan4 | |
| Date | 17th May 1918 | |
| COPY. OY2/FMF17518. FR. from OY:- May 17th, 1918. RE GASOLINE FEEDING DEVICE. 1. We despatched on May 8th a gasolene feeding device, adapted to automobiles, which I thought might be of interest to you. I have unfortunately not written to you about this before, because recently I have been very seldom at the office for more than two or three days at a time. 2. It is invented and manufactured by a man called Mr.Twombley, of 131 Riverside Drive, New York City, who was at one time somewhat of a free lance inventor. He says he is manufacturing this device in large quantities for all sorts of automobiles, sellingthem at about one dollar each, and that it is being extensively used to supplant the pressure feed and vacuum feed. 3. He has been submitting something of the sort to the U.S. Signal Corps for airplanes, but in this case the difficulty is that it is always undesirable to make openings in the cylinder of an aero engine, since in practically all of them all possible openings are taken up by the double sparking plugs, etc. It is only on a few of them that compression cocks are fitted. The explosion pressure is taken along a thin copper pipe to the leather plunger of the device. The plunger is of the cup leather type, and is kept open by the exhaust pressure upon it. The brass plunger which forms a part of it is merely used to keep the leather portion square, and is said to practically float on the gasolene without touching the walls of the pump cylinder. A single spiral spring is used to return the piston (Contd.) | ||