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 cooling system limitations and overheating issues of the Silver Ghost model.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\L\2April1924-June1924\ Scan66 | |
| Date | 1st May 1925 | |
| R.R. 493A (50m) (D.B. 173 25-9-24) J.H.D. EXPERIMENTAL REPORT. -5- Expl. No. REF Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/LRL.5.25. the air temperature at which it will boil is reduced to 28.5°C. If the fan on the Silver Ghost is disconnected, however, this car can be made to overheat at any temperature in excess of 6°C. In other words the 'Silver Ghost' could suffer from boiling troubles on a sufficiently long and severe gradient on almost any day in the year in England except in mid-Winter, if the fan belt had broken and not been replaced. Adequate ventilation such as louvres may raise the air temperature at which the car will overheat by some 6°C but naturally an inefficient fan drive can easily out-weigh the advantage gained in this manner, or in fact any improvement we can introduce. [Handwritten note: Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}'s! Candour!] From the foregoing remarks it will be realised that we have never been more fully alive to, or in a better position for ascertaining the extent of our cooling limitations. What distresses us is to be told that a different exhaust system has so altered the Silver Ghost that it now boils continuously, whereas before it was adequately cooled. We know that thermostats and exhaust heated throttles may possibly produce a measureable difference in the car when accurate instruments are used to detect this difference, but the magnitude of any alteration thus occasioned can only be relatively small compared with the inevitable tendency of the car to overheat in mid-summer in climates such as that of Australia. One of the greatest difficulties with which we have contd :- | ||