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).
Reliability issues of gear-driven versus electric petrol pumps and proposing a new location for the electric pump.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 149\1\ scan0180 | |
| Date | 28th September 1935 | |
| W/S. To Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} from E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} x1263 E.1/HP.28.9.35. re Petrol Pumps. Referring to your memo. Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD}11/E.13.9.35, we should certainly be worse off with the gear driven petrol pump, and this type of pump suffers as severely as any from gas lock on mountain passes. The gear driven pump has to be located on the engine and requires a reservoir of some sort to make it work, nearby. With such limitations it is much more difficult to keep the heat away, particularly on high powered cars with radiator chassis control where under bonnet temperatures are high, and the space available is small. The electric pump we can put in the best available position when it is under the bonnet away from radiated heat, but I think that much of the trouble that has occurred with the electric pump is due to it being located under the bonnet and remote from the fuel tank. In my opinion it would be more reliable used in position further back on the chassis, and we have issued a scheme for trying this out on the Bentley. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} | ||