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).
Causes of steering wobbles and proposing a test for a potential solution.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\J\January1923\ Scan74 | |
| Date | 11th August 1920 | |
| R.R. 235A (100 T) (S.H. 159. 11-8-20) G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} 2800 ORIGINAL. TO HS.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} FROM R.{Sir Henry Royce} R3/M16.1.23. [Stamp: RECEIVED 18 JAN] RE. STEERING WOBBLES. X. 457 Your experiments on steering wobbles are most interesting. Though we do not at present see any real way out of the difficulty they confirm much of our conclusions and the difficulties associated with them. There is little doubt that the absence of friction in our front axle has much to do with our reason for suffering from steering wobbles more than most other people. There is no doubt the Marmon's reasons for being better than ourselves or the Delage is due to the fact that it is not centre point steering, and there is a good deal of friction created in the pivots. It is however dangerous as we found here that through not being centre point steering, any drag on one of the wheels such as soft road, deflated tyre, uneven front wheel brakes, would cause it to pull tremendously at the steering wheel. It has occurred to me that it would be just worth while testing the effect of going say 1" beyond centre point steering in the opposite way to the natural, that is, the intersection being outside the track, in which case one ought to be able to run with vertical pivots without the steering being so liable to take charge when running round a corner. I cannot however follow it sufficiently closely in my head to be able to see definitely what the effect would be but I think it is worth trying. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||