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).
Detrimental effects of leaf spring friction on comfort and potential solutions such as plating.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\S\September1928-October1928\ Scan024 | |
| Date | 27th August 1928 | |
| -2- Hm{Capt. W. Hallam - Head Repairs}/MRC9/MW27.8.28. We find that leaf spring friction can have at least as detrimental an effect on the comfort as that of the rear springs, being several hundred lbs stronger than is necessary to prevent buffer bumping. All this points to the importance of not only reducing leaf friction (and consequent leaf wear) to a minimum, but also to the importance of endeavouring to produce a spring which will have a minimum increase of friction after a prolonged period of use. to polish the plates certainly appears to us to be a step in the right direction, while subsequent plating of the plates appears to us to be only a logical step in the endeavour to protect the polished plates from rust and corrosion quite apart from any definite effect the plating may (or may not) have in the further re-duction of friction and consequent wear, if however the plating protects the plates from rust and corro-sion, it is reasonable to suppose that this is a step towards a more permanent reduction of friction. It is interesting to note that even when gaiters are fitted with Enots, and the springs apparently well oiled, we very frequently find evidence of rust and corrosion taking place. At the moment we have complaints of long standing where we have already fitted springs to the limit of flexibility so far as poundage is concerned and we feel strongly that polished and plated plates would be likely to go some way towards removing these complaints but we cannot fit springs so treated to customer's cars before they are standardised. Hm{Capt. W. Hallam - Head Repairs}/MRC. WRE | ||