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).
Use of flexible springs and adjustable shock dampers for car work, including cost considerations and potential designs.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 17\1\ Scan064 | |
| Date | 26th September 1931 | |
| HS.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} FROM R.{Sir Henry Royce} BY.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} C. to SG.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} WOR.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} DA.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} X740 R2/M26.9.31. SHOCK DAMPERS AND ROAD SPRINGS. X.235 X.7410. X.5410. It seems absolutely imperative that we must use flexible springs on the bulk of our car work, and these can be made satisfactory even for ordinary high speed work by sufficiently effective shock dampers. The maximum effectiveness of these can be approximately double that of our practice in the past. The normal must only give our standards of the past year. We agree that it is imperative under the above circumstances to provide at least two adjustable settings for the dampers, what we may call the maximum and the normal. HS.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} feared the cost of the sylphon tube in conjunction with the control of these dampers. Although these ought to be available at a cost not exceeding 5/- each we believe that some other scheme can be arranged that will be equally effective. Some of the ideas that have occurred to us appear to promise well, and we think it is quite within the bounds of possibility to combine the control with a replenishing system so that a small oil pipe going round the chassis will be able to do the double duty. - XXX The way in which this should be carried out I will send later. It may be arranged to control two pressure valves or a two grade leak, or both. This latter I think will be found preferable. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||