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).
Technical comparison of various manual shift starter motor mechanisms.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 40\5\ Scan105 | |
| Date | 19th December 1922 | |
| Oyl-W-121922 -4- instruct owners not to attempt to start again until the engine comes to rest, as otherwise the shock may be great, though apparently it does not damage the Bijur pinion as it does the Bendix. Manual Shift As compared with this, the "manual shift" (of which some prints were sent to Mr. Hives on May 23) will not come out of gear till the foot-button is released. We attach a print showing the Westinghouse manual shift attached to a motor. In principle this scheme appears to be practically the only alternative to the Bijur pinion, if one excepts the solenoid shift of the Locomobile, which is in principle the same as our own, only not nearly so well done. The manual shift is the same thing as used by Delco on the Buick for many years. It consists in sliding the pinion into engagement with a foot pedal, and closing the switch with the same mechanism when the pinion is about half-way engaged. The pinion has a silent free wheel which spins when the engine starts, until the foot is released. The Buick uses a single-unit system, so that as soon as ignition is switched on the dynamotor revolves. If on pressing the starter pedal the pinion teeth butt, it is only necessary to release and try again, and the teeth will slip round into engagement. The Delco starter on the Essex at Derby has the same principle but, I believe, it is a 2 unit system, so that it is necessary to put a spring between the foot pedal and the pinion, so that, if the teeth butt, the pedal can still be depressed until the switch is closed, when the pinion turns round against the flywheel face until the spring shoots it into engagement. This is the system now used by the American Bosch who are supplying lighting and starting to Essex and Hudson. It has the disadvantage of "chunking" when the engine swings back off a dead centre (and still more so, of course, if the engine | ||