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).
Review of the company's compression ignition engine development programme, its costs, and associated risks.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 181\M7\ img038 | |
| Date | 30th November 1931 | |
| ORIGINAL HS{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} To R.{Sir Henry Royce} From Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c.c. to Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c.c. to Rg.{Mr Rowledge} c.c. to By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Fl. COMPRESSION IGNITION ENGINE. It is useful to review the whole of our Compression Ignition programme. At the present time we have all the resources and talent of the R.A.E. working for us on the Condor Compression Ignition engines. This work is being carried out with the single cylinder and complete engine. We have also all the resources and talent of Messrs. Ricardo working on the complete 12 cyl. Sleeve valve Kestrel engine, which has been built on the results of years of working on single cylinder units. We have also our own single cylinder unit. We should estimate that Compression Ignition work at R.A.E. and at Ricardo's has cost over £100,000. All the information and data obtained from this outlay is available for R.R. Compression Ignition engines. Before we embark and perhaps spend some of our own money on still another type of Compression Ignition engine, we ought most carefully to go over the results obtained so far at R.A.E. and Ricardo's and see where they have failed and why, and how we can improve upon them. If both the Condor and Kestrel Compression Ignition engines are failures when they have had the backing of the A.M., the talent of the R.A.E. and Ricardo's, we ought then to appreciate the risk we are taking in sinking our own money on this job. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Attachment. Handwritten note: Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} talking 'policy' {& 'proposals'} to R*, Sg{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD}, Rg{Mr Rowledge}!! | ||