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).
Weight reduction and component selection for a Continental car.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 97\3\ scan0008 | |
| Date | 21th November 1938 | |
| -2- AFM.{Anthony F. Martindale} Obviously, if the suspension pieces which are going into production on B.V. will stand up to Wraith replacement weights when made in nickel, it should be possible to lighten them considerably if they are produced in SZNX. Our suggestion is that we might get a model made by the Pattern Shop from the patterns from which the cast levers have been made, and then get the shop to machine down a production forging to correspond with the model. We could check whether the sections are O.K. by making the lever as an aluminium casting and seeing whether it broke. PJH. We are expecting you to lighten the yoke piece also. We ought to get the lightest possible continental steering wheel on this car. Are we using the thinnest possible steering tubes ? JBD.{John B. Dixon - Fuel Systems} Compared with the weight of the tank, the filler and vent seem too heavy for the Continental car. We should like you to see what you can do to lessen the weight. How much weight do we save by using the mechanical instead of the electrical pump ? RC.{R. Childs} We want to get hold of a pair of headlamps for the continental car which are as consistent as possible with satisfactory illumination. We have in mind that the original ones fitted to the 3½-litre Bentley are the best we know of, but there may be some even more satisfactory ones which are inexpensive. The lamps will probably be built in the wings on the prototype car, but somebody might like separate ones. We should like your recommendation as to the lightest possible horns available. We should also like to know if there is any battery which is lighter than our standard Bentley which you think would conceivably do the work better on this car. Wym.{G. Harold Whyman - Experimental Manager} Though we may have a double duplex exhaust system on the Continental Bentley finally, we should like you to prepare a single exhaust system, of the minimum possible weight, as an alternative to the duplex. In other words, we can take the system which has now been made reasonably satisfactory on B.V. and use expensive material to get the weight down. | ||