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 state of hydraulic brakes in the U.S.A., including discussions with Lockheed and Chrysler.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 120\3\ scan0022 | |
| Date | 15th February 1932 | |
| X4456, R.{Sir Henry Royce} From Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/An. c. to Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} Mor. c. to R.{Sir Henry Royce} Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. to W. Detroit, February 15th, 1932. HYDRAULIC BRAKES. I spent today trying to find out if the hydraulic brake transmission was gaining or losing adherents in the U.S.A. and whether there were any service troubles. I just went to the Lockheed brake central office and talked to Mr. Otto Lang who has been developing the device from its inception. He said they were expanding, but there were certain cars they would never get because the Lockheed Company refused to sacrifice quality, and so could not cut their price to compete with shoddy mechanical jobs. On the other hand they had almost complete ascendancy in the truck field where mechanical efficiency was of vital importance. He illustrated their reliability by a fact that astonished me. No taxi cabs are allowed to run in New York unless they have hydraulic brakes. Buicks have to fit Lockheed brakes specially for this work. The authorities were so insistent that they had to change over 1000 Buicks already on the road. He showed me their testing plant. Most of their development work has been done on the hose. This will now stand pressure up to 6000 lbs/sq.in. The average system operates at 700-900 lbs/sq.in. They considered that the staff of their associate company in England (which I believe are automotive products Ltd) were very efficient and could demonstrate or fit up a system for us to try. I then went to Chryslers and talked to Mr. Harry Woolson, their chief engineer. He said that apart from the teething troubles that they had when they pioneered the job, there was hardly a portion of the car that gave them less anxiety. They had about 1,000,000 cars on the road and if there were troubles they should know of them. They had considered the price-efficiency question very carefully when they built the Plymouth and chose the Lockheed rather than the mechanical. Broken hoses were quite as rare as a cotter pin falling out in a mechanical system, even in the districts where | ||