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).
Suggestion for a side petrol filler to address difficulties when a luggage carrier is in use.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 42\4\ Scan070 | |
| Date | 20th August 1919 | |
| To C. from Bn.{W.O. Bentley / Mr Barrington} Copy to EH. Bn{W.O. Bentley / Mr Barrington} x3887 Chassis Bn{W.O. Bentley / Mr Barrington}1/W20.8.19. RE C. de SALAMANCA'S SUGGESTION FOR SIDE PETROL FILLER. With reference to the attached suggestion and your remark that if we have no objection to it, why should we not standardise the scheme. I think we have all felt for some time that the difficulty experienced with our present petrol tank filler when the car is fitted with a Luggage Carrier and is loaded up with luggage, is a genuine difficulty and is not one which is brought about by owners using their cars for purposes other than legitimate ones. We feel that we must deal with those cases in which customers require to carry luggage on the back, as although this practice has been condemned in the past, there appears to be no reasonable alternative. Accepting this, therefore, we must obviously provide for filling the tank with the luggage in position. I do not like the scheme put forward by the C. de Salamanca as it stands, but we think that satisfactory schemes achieving this end can be prepared. It is necessary to ensure that the filter is at least as good as our present one. Also the reversible funnel does not appear good, as dust will be deposited on the inside, notwithstanding its inverted position. This will be washed into the tank in many cases. I have instructed the Design Office to start on schemes, but in the meantime we are preparing a design which will be applicable to existing tanks and utilising our present filter. We think we can carry out this latter idea quickly and without serious difficulty. It will be a great boon for it to be applicable to cars on the road and the chassis we are now producing. Bn.{W.O. Bentley / Mr Barrington} B | ||