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).
The 50-hour bench endurance run of an 8-cylinder engine.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 124\1\ scan0130 | |
| Date | 23th May 1939 | |
| 1044 SECRET. Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} from Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}2/R.23.5.39. 8-cylinder Engine. We have now completed a preliminary bench endurance run of 50 hours on the 8-cylinder engine. The unit had already done 55 hours de-velopment, which makes 105 hours running in all. The main object of the run was to de-termine whether the 8-cylinder required a spring drive, as this had been found necessary on the 6-cylinder unit. To increase the severity of the test the engine was run up to 4,500 revs. Apart from a gasket failure, due to purposely using low grade fuel, and valve spring breakage, the engine behaved remarkably well, and the strip was one of the best that we have seen for the running accomplished. The run proved that the 8-cylinder engine is likely to be more reliable than the B.5 engine which recently completed 50,000 miles in France. It also proved that there does not appear to be any necessity to fit a spring drive to the 8-cylinder unit, i.e., the unit is fit for production as originally designed. As soon as one of the new gearboxes with standard ratios is available, we shall send this engine to France fitted in the Silver Phantom chassis. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||