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).
Disadvantages of using artillery wheels due to their weight and lack of strength.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 42\1\ Scan014 | |
| Date | 24th October 1925 | |
| To CJ. from R.{Sir Henry Royce} c. to BJ. BY.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} c. to Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} PN.{Mr Northey} x 3809 R1/M24.10.25. RE. ARTILLERY WHEELS. X.4586 X.3809 Replying to your CJ3/E21.10.25., I agree to artillery wheels being used where the owners insist upon it, but we should not recommend them because they are 15% heavier, considerably less strong, and would not give so long warning before they collapsed. You will see that my objections are supported by our competitors, but I will not go so far as to prohibit their use on cars intended as town carriages, when the owners insist upon something different to an open wire wheel. I agree that covering discs for wire wheels are objectionable, and that disc wheels (Michelin pattern) are also undesirable. The figure mentioned above of 15% is based upon your statement of 7 lbs. in 47 lbs. I believe however that if they are carefully compared, wheel and hub, with the latest pattern of Dunlop well-base rim, the difference in weight will be considerably more than the 15%, and if we were to increase the whole chassis in the same proportion it would ruin its reputation. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||