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).
The microscopic examination of a plate, detailing steel deposits from the flywheel and the deterioration of facing materials.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 129\4\ scan0203 | |
| Date | 21th April 1938 | |
| -2- Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/NRC.{N. R. Chandler}4/MH.{M. Huckerby}21.4.38. After a long discussion with Messrs. Longley and Chilton the plate was examined under a microscope, and it was found that many of the brass bonding wires were coated with a deposit of steel from the flywheel, which is .6 carbon steel, but no such deposit was found on the rear facing which contacts with the cast iron pressure plate. It was first suggested that this almost microscopic partial seizure might, to some extent, be responsible for the trouble, but I pointed out that there must be other factors at work, because the deterioration is known to occur (a) with a P.III which has cast iron faces on both sides, (b) with facing materials having no metallic bonding wire. Mr. Longley then had .005 ground off the facing, and asked us to try it again, but it is evident that we still have to discover the real nature of the change which occurs in the frictional characteristics of facing materials. Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/NRC.{N. R. Chandler} | ||