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).
Report comparing the performance of Maconite and standard Glover insulated cables for high tension wiring.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 52\1\ Scan071 | |
| Date | 2nd May 1926 | |
| Contd. -2- EFC {E. Fowler Clarke - Electrical Engineer} 1/T2.5.26. appear to result in any disadvantage when the wire is used as H.T. wire on the cars. It will be seen that we have ourselves found this Maconite material to be very good in every direction. Since the time of that report various further tests have been made, e.g. a sample of the cable has been exposed to the atmosphere and daylight for a considerable period. We also put in hand a number of tests on various experimental cars, some arranged completely with Maconite, and some with a sandwich system of Maconite and our standard Glover. These chassis tests were referred to in EFC {E. Fowler Clarke - Electrical Engineer} 2/T8.6.26 which also gave particulars of some tests from the point of view of the tendency to crack where the potential gradient was great across the Maconite material, causing the formation of ozone. In these tests also the Maconite behaved better than the standard Glover. A report dealing with the comparative tests of Maconite and standard Glover insulated cables, after exposure to sunlight and weather, was given under cover of our EFC {E. Fowler Clarke - Electrical Engineer} 1/T2.9.26. FN. raised the point about the inflammability, but we made a test and found that both Maconite and standard Glover ignited fairly readily and both burnt slowly with the same intensity. We also made tests on the comparative effects of heat on the two samples. We received a note from E. {Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} saying that you would like the suppliers of our present standard cable to be provided with samples of Maconite with a view to obtaining their Contd. | ||