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 Zenith Carburetter Co. regarding sticking and failing Phantom III accelerator pumps.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 122\2\ scan0061 | |
| Date | 3rd September 1936 | |
| X1033 Exptl. Dept. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Swdl.{Len H. Swindell}24/KW. 3rd September, 1936. The Zenith Carburetter Co.Ltd., Honeypot Lane, Stanmore, Middlesex. Dear Sirs, In reply to your letter of the 31st August, with regard to the sticking of the Phantom III accelerator pumps, along with your Mr. Fisher we examined several pumps which had failed in production. We were not so concerned with failures in cases where the bore of the accelerator well had not been bored by your latest process, as in one particular case which was absolutely up to date and started sticking after 150 miles' running. Mr. Fisher, I believe, took possession of this particular pump, which is just the type of failure we have been looking for. From the external appearance of the leather it was obvious that it had been assembled correctly and had collapsed in service. The backing brass disc appeared to be working over on one side of the bore, and on the opposite side where there was a large clearance between the disc and the well bore, the leather had collapsed back and was wedging between the two. Your query regarding straining the mechanism when a pump sticks is not surprising, for though we have not noticed any bent control levers it is a real effort to open the throttle with a sticking pump. | ||