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).
Possible causes of an accumulator cell (battery) explosion for chassis 29-YE.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 46\3\ Scan121 | |
| Date | 2nd February 1923 | |
| X 607 To D/BP. from EFC. t wd.{Mr Wood/Mr Whitehead} EFC2/T2.2.23. RE BATTERY FROM CHASSIS 29-YE - G.E. LAMB Answering your D/BP/HF{H. W. Frost - Coachwork Inspector}6/B2.1.23, we are well aware of the possibility of accumulator cells exploding, in fact the owner will find a reference to this possibility in the Instruction Book, under "Care of Battery under Running Conditions". If we can, as we suppose, assume that at the time of the explosion the battery was not being inspected with a naked light, or battery connections being made or broken with current passing, then the cause of the explosion would be one of the two following things:- (1) Either the connections to the terminals were imperfect (loose) inside the battery box. or (2) The workmanship during replacement of the sets of new positive plates was faulty, resulting in a broken lug inside one or more cells. It is a certainty that there must have been an electric spark to cause the explosion. The owner will probably be well aware that a battery brought up to the gasing condition of charge gives off a most explosive mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, and that this mixture is sufficiently cramped when the stoppers are in the cells to cause the disruptive action experienced, should such mixture be ignited. It is quite possible for the mixture to be ignited inside the cells by a spark occurring on the top of the battery, e.g. at the terminals as sufficient explosive mixture would be pouring | ||