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).
Increasing the number of fuses in the chassis electrical system for improved safety.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 166\7\ img024 | |
| Date | 13th June 1934 | |
| WST To Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} and Mor. from E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Sft.{Mr Swift} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst. By/RD. Chassis Electrical System - Fuses --------------------------------- A meeting of By/RD, Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst. and E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} was held to discuss questions arising in connection with the above involving the provision of more fuses, and By/RD. put forward a suggestion for using a smaller cable eye which would save .075" on the centre distance of the fuses, and this modification, together with the removal of the feature on the fuse board dividing the accessory from the main fuses, would leave room for two more fuses on the present Phantom board. It is admittedly a debatable question as to the number of fuses that should be used on a chassis wiring circuit. There are numerous cars running about with one fuse only on which, if a short occurs, the complete car and lighting circuit is thrown out of action. There are other systems such as the latest Lucas vibrator control in which some half dozen fuses are employed, and this is considered by some people to be doing the job well. Six fuses however does not provide the maximum protection for safety and convenience, and we know that on our present board where we have nine fuses, three or four more could be usefully employed, and if it is possible to get them in to the existing mouldings we think that they should be incorporated. It should be remembered that inside the lid{A. J. Lidsey} of the box we provide a clear diagram showing exactly what unit the fuse is servicing. One of the improvements that extra fuses would make possible would be that each car head lamp would be separately dealt with and the risk of a complete black out when driving fast at night with its dire consequences would be very greatly minimised. Some of our customers have insisted on having their head lamps separately fused, and we can only conclude that this is as the result of personal experience of themselves | ||