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 Joseph Lucas Ltd. discussing the unsuitability of their windscreen wipers for Rolls-Royce bodies.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 59\3\ Scan238 | |
| Date | 6th March 1933 | |
| 86032 CONFIDENTIAL. HS{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst.5/MA. March 6th., 1933. Mr. Thacker, Messrs. Joseph Lucas Ltd., Well Street, Birmingham. Dear Mr. Thacker, With reference to the criticisms of Lucas Wind Screen Wipers which we showed you on the occasion of your recent visit, we have received a further note from Mr. Evernden, who as you know is responsible for the design of body work on our chassis, criticizing not only the Lucas wiper but Lucas policy generally with regard to accessories. I am sending you strictly confidentially these criticisms in order that you can be advised of our atitude in the matter. "The only wiper that we can use as a general rule these days is one fitted behind the scuttle rail. As the tops of all of our screens, whether fixed or opening, are curved it is obvious that we cannot have a straight coupling bar between the two blades. What is more, the body of the motor projecting back from the top of the screen is too much to be tolerated. The Klaxon wiper was made by them largely as a result of our getting Messrs. Park Ward & Co. to build up such a wiper for the scuttle rail using a standard Klaxon motor. Messrs. Lucas have left us the latest edition of their attempt at a similar job, but we are sorry to say that we cannot get it into any of our bodies as it cuts the scuttle rail in two, and calls for a depth of scuttle rail of over an inch more than we are able to give without badly obscuring the instrument board. The chain used for the drive between the motor shaft and the two blade spindles is cycle chain, .500 x .187. | ||