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).
Unreliability and varying lifespan of make-and-break contacts for the Phantom ignition system.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 70\3\ scan0154 | |
| Date | 27th May 1926 | |
| COPY. PN{Mr Northey}3/DN27/5/26 To BJ. c. to CWB. # Have customers complained much please? BJ FROM PN.{Mr Northey} PHANTOM IGNITION. I think it is important we should know exactly the position as to the amount of trouble which has arisen, and may still arise, in respect of the battery contact make-and-break on the Phantom ignition. Br.{T. E. Bellringer - Repair Manager} seems to expect Phantoms to run only about 1000 miles on one set of make-and-break contacts. In the case of Mr.Sidney of Hampstead, his car required a renewal of these points every few hundred miles. His last lot has run up to 1500. Our own Trials cars have been doing fairly well in this respect. For instance, our Trials Landaulet No.101-MC, has run 12,600 miles with the original make-and-break still in use, these merely having been cleaned three times. 22-MC, also a Trials Landaulet, has run 14,000 miles without renewal. 29-MC - Provincial Phantom Tourer, had seven new sets fitted in 6,000 miles, then an extra earth connection was fitted, after which the car ran a further 15,000 miles on three sets of make-and-break. 103-MC - Open Phantom - has run 12,000 miles with two new sets fitted. 84-LC - Hodges' car - has run 2,000 miles and so far the contact make-and-break is behaving well. Mr.Minchin's Phantom has run 7,000 miles and has required one new set. It is obvious, therefore, that there is a degree of unreliability in respect of these components at the present time, for undoubtedly we should depend upon these parts running without serious attention for upwards of 15,000 miles at least. Various reasons have from time to time been suggested to account for this trouble, such as condensers being faulty, exhaust and crankcase fumes rising and causing trouble, but I am not satisfied that the position has been assailed with an entire measure of success so far. One feels that our reputation for reliability will fall to the ground just as surely arising out of a trivial trouble of this description, as it might were the big ends of the engine to run out their bearings. PN.{Mr Northey} | ||