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).
Letter to Wilcox-Rich Manufacturing Corp. requesting information on American side-valve engine technology and valve lift.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 174\2\ img219 | |
| Date | 6th December 1937 | |
| Rmk/2/R.{Sir Henry Royce} 6th December, 1937. Mr. Young, Wilcox-Rich Manufacturing Corporation, DETROIT, Mich: U.S.A. Dear Mr. Young, We have been running an engine with an exhaust side valve, which has particularly high volumetric efficiency. To find that to take full advantage of the good breathing of this engine we require more than .35 exhaust valve lift. The engine in question has a 3 3/4" bore and a 4 1/4" stroke. It seems to be the general opinion in America that it is not possible to get a more than .35 valve lift with the ordinary mushroom follower. Presumably if it were not so, Hudson's would have gone to the plain type of non-rotating follower. However, there is no doubt that Hudson's are in trouble with their plain follower from the point of view of wear (we saw samples badly scuffed after 25,000 miles). We shall be very grateful to you if you can give us any of the current information on the simplest possible means of getting exhaust valve lifts above .35 on a side valve engine, and the materials which are generally used in the States to obtain the optimum results. Yours sincerely, | ||