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).
Description of the working scheme for controllable shock dampers.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 151\2\ scan0204 | |
| Date | 5th March 1934 | |
| W/S {Derby Works / Sales} - Bkl. HS {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} /Les.14/KW.5.3.34. R.R. Controllable Shock Dampers: With reference to your 'phone message to-day, we are enclosing blue prints of the governor unit and a rear shock damper. The actual scheme is as follows :- A plunger pump driven at 1/9th propellor shaft speed circulates compressor oil through the governor unit casing. Before the oil is discharged into the reservoir of the casing, the oil has to pass a release valve. This is the governor release valve, and is called such because the governor whose spindle operates the plunger pump with an eccentric puts the load on the valve. Consequently when the governor is travelling at high speeds there is considerably more load on the valve. The load of the valve is of course proportional to the oil pressure before the oil gets to the valve. The oil which is led to the dampers is taken from the system before the governor release valve. The hand control release valve is similar to the governor release valve, only the load on the valve is varied by the position of the hand control on the top of the steering column. The position of this valve is after the pipe to the dampers, but before the governor release valve. So that the pressure in the pipe that goes to the dampers is the hand control valve pressure added to the governor valve pressure, as before the oil is discharged into the reservoir it has to pass both valves. There is a safety main release valve in the system to prevent any excessive pressure. This is a ball valve and is operated by a spring. The pipe which leaves the governor control unit branches into 4 pipes, one to each shock damper. The object of the variable oil pressure at the dampers is to increase the load of the dampers. The load of the dampers is proportional to the pressure in the governor control system, although the oil pressure in the control is only a 50th of the pressure in the dampers. | ||