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).
Letter to a customer discussing the difficulty of tightening Rudge Whitworth wheels and potential experimental designs.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 89\4\ scan0305 | |
| Date | 11th April 1938 | |
| Rml/R.{Sir Henry Royce} 11th April, 1938. C.R.N. Minchin, Esq., 50, Grosvenor Gardens, LONDON. S.W.1. Dear Minchin, Many thanks for your letter. Your remarks re tightening your wheels are interesting. We felt fairly certain that in your case you had made sure of this, and, therefore, the knock was due to the wheel drivers. You are absolutely right about the Rudge Whitworth wheel being difficult to tighten, and the reason for this is that the taper on the cone is so slow that it causes the nut to jam up rotationally before it is really tight. Experimentally we have some wheels running about with the cone angle much reduced, and we have found no disadvantage, and one can tighten the wheel for keeps with half the energy necessary with the existing design. However, the Rudge wheel being generally the result of old 'Spanish Customs', we are trying to get in a lot of experimental designs before we standardise anything. Anyhow, if your wheel drivers annoy you in the future we can deal with them. Yours sincerely, P.S. I should be very interested to have your unbiassed impressions of the 12-cylinder Lagonda. | ||