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).
15,000-mile Bentley test in France, focusing on brake and clutch performance.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 82\4\ scan0366 | |
| Date | 28th March 1936 | |
| -6- Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}1/KW.28.3.36. BENTLEY. 15,000 miles Test in France - G-B-IV. This car has been held up while the anti-jagger brake scheme has been fitted, but should now be running again. The other two points on the car which affect current production and are therefore of major interest are the clutch and the bearings. Brake Jaggers. This experiment has been concluded and reported on. Clutch. The position in customers' hands, as we understand it from G.W.H., is that now that the standard of manufacture has been improved complaints are not numerous. We have had cases where we could find no fault with the clutch and yet there has been a rattle in the transmission. To overcome this we had to fit the propeller shaft damper. The cases are so few that they do not justify standardising the propeller shaft damper on the Bentley. To improve matters we ran a test on the 10" clutch with Ph.III lining, which gave a vastly improved take-up for smoothness but failed under high speed gear changing. We are now trying a ventilated clutch of similar type to see if this improves the heat dissipation, and an 11" clutch has been sent out to Hancock in France to run on G-B-IV. Brakes Fading. In view of the success of the anti-jagger scheme, aluminium drums are now permissible. A set is running on G-B-IV in France and we have put 12 further sets in hand for customers. | ||