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).
Study concluding on the design and construction of a high-speed, torsionally stiff cross shaft, likely for a crane.
| Identifier | Morton\M6\ img003 | |
| Date | 6th December 1929 guessed | |
| (2) At the end of this study the only conclusion I can come to is that you need a high speed torsionally stiff cross shaft, which, to be effective must run at as high a speed as safety permits. To avoid many bearings it suggests a large dia. of solid drawn tube would be the best way of constructing such a cross shaft, and if you could purchase fairly inexpensively such tubes with flanges at each end I believe we could fit up a fairly inexpensive cross drive without much weight. The bearings would have to be split and the tubes would have to be ground in spots - i.e. bands for the bearings. Such a scheme offers many suggestions. Such tubes must be very inexpensive, as we see long lengths being welded together by the roadside for water distribution on the continent. The only doubt that arises is whether we can get them straight enough. They would be coupled to a short piece of shaft at each end upon which the driving pinion was keyed. Preferably I should fit the motor in the centre of the crane and take the drive direct from the motor shaft, or at least run this shaft not much less than half motor speed. Yours faithfully, A H Rogers | ||