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).
Research into gear silence, particularly for the Spectre gearbox, and the need for appropriate testing equipment.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 155\3\ scan0022 | |
| Date | 1st October 1935 | |
| To Wor{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager}: X1325 Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}12/KW.1.10.35. Gear Silence. It will be remembered that in January of this year the question of gear silence arose, particularly with reference to the SpectreCodename for Phantom III gearbox, and it was decided that research could with advantage be carried out in this direction with the object of assisting production. At the present moment, contact is being maintained between F.J. Hardy, who is our gear expert in the Experimental Dept., and production, and progress is being made. We are still sadly in need, however, of research testing equipment. We feel convinced that once in operation this equipment would pay for itself over and over again in production costs. Without such equipment it is difficult to get innovations tried. As an example, in my memo. of Feb. 8th, 1932 during my first trip to America, I pointed out that the Americans had found that helix angles from 45⁰ to 50⁰ produced gears that were easy to get quiet. We tried the first set of such gears in a SpectreCodename for Phantom III gearbox for the first time a fortnight ago, some 3½ years after the information was obtained. The preliminary results are remarkably good. We blame ourselves for not pushing this job more, but we are sure that it would have been tried a long time ago had we had a suitable rig. We have collaborated with production in considering what test equipment is required, and our suggestions have been approved. We should like the necessary equipment and space to have consideration in the present re-arrangement of the Experimental Dept. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||