Article from 'The Autocar' magazine discussing considerations for car body design, focusing on chassis rigidity and flexibility.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\2\ scan0004 | |
| Date | 8th August 1914 | |
| THE AUTOCAR, August 8th, 1914. 265 Considerations of Body Design. carefully covered up. On the other hand, a system of small multiple steel springs of the helical or leaf types is not without its possibilities. It would necessarily involve a small extra expense, but there is little doubt that the initial cost would very soon be paid for, in the longer lasting quality and additional comfort of the body. It must be borne in mind that in this case there is no need for any form of primary suspension adapted to take up large shocks. It is simply a case of providing a certain amount of “give” to overcome slight differences in the coefficient of expansion of different materials, and to allow for a limited amount of distortion. In other words, when the chassis frame is affected by a shock which the road springs can never entirely destroy, its effect must be spread over the whole of the body, and not over a small part, as is the case at present. If not, then the whole of the body must be made elastic, which, so long as paintwork and metal panels are the vogue, is utterly out of the question. Wooden frameworks are extremely accommodating when it comes to a movement of a millimetre or two, but metal is brutally uncompromising. Clearly enough, four alternatives must present themselves. First, the body must be made sufficiently strong to make the rigidity of the chassis such that it is unaffected by any shock, however great. This is manifestly impossible, and, if it were possible, it is impracticable. Or, the chassis itself must be made so strong that in no circumstances can it distort to the slightest degree. Although nearly so, this is not quite impossible, but it is merely ridiculous, because no one wants to add a ton weight to his car and have to exeAero Enginercise a choice between a chassis like the Forth Bridge or something about three inches thick all over. Or, bodywork must be made sufficiently elastic to deal with the inevitable movement of the elastic chassis. This is possible, but I question the ability of carriage builders to overcome the difficulties which such a construction would involve. Or, the body and the chassis must be made as two separate units, not intimately connected, but given an allowance of movement independent of one another. Any elasticity that they thus have is not then mutually antagonistic. This seems to be the only solution to the problem. There are one or two other matters connected with body design and construction that I should like to have dealt with, but those touched upon in the present article are perhaps enough to go on with for the time being. | ||
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).