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).
Engine cooling issues, fan performance tests at Brooklands, and proposed fan belt redesigns.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 24\5\ Scan273 | |
| Date | 9th July 1930 | |
| G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} W. Hancock, Esq., Hotel de France, Chateauroux, Indre, FRANCE. x766 x766 x7220 To GWH.{George W. Hancock - Head Chateauroux} From Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rn.{Mr Robinson} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rn.{Mr Robinson}3/MJ.9.7.30. We are in receipt of your note of the 7th.inst., and note your remarks re the fan. At the present moment the question of cooling is receiving great prominence. We are getting the usual requests to send the car to various parts of the world in order to prove that it over-heats. Naturally, this does not help us out of our troubles and we want to make the best of what we have got. We have done a further series of tests on Brooklands and we find that at 60 M.P.H. if we remove the fan, the radiator temperature rises 10°C. With a spring tensioned fan and normal fan belt we are 4° better off, and if we pull the fan belt up choc-a-bloc we gain another 4½°. We want you to confirm this. Our object is not to suggest that the present standard cars can ever be driven for more than a short time with the fan belt pulled up choc-a-bloc, because we know as well as you do, that the fan belt will soon stretch. We want to convince R.{Sir Henry Royce} that it is worth his while to redesign the fan drive so that with the new canvas rubber belts of larger section we shall have some chance of getting the maximum cooling efficiency. | ||