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).
Advantages of wire wheels over wood wheels, particularly for high-speed cars and use on the Continent.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 159\7\ scan0025 | |
| Date | 28th November 1913 | |
| COPY. R11/P 28.11.13. To J.{Mr Johnson W.M.} from R.{Sir Henry Royce} Copy to Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} " " Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} X421 With reference to steering improvement for wood wheels, I think we might design a wood wheel hub suitable for the present wire wheel axle as it stands, with out altering the inclination of wheel and pivot, that is just such a wood wheel as can be used with Michelin rims for the immediate future. You will understand that I have been against the use of detachable wire wheels while they worked loose on their hubs, and while they broke spokes. Since, however, this has become very much less liable to occur, I am now a strong advocate of wire wheels, especially for such high speed cars as we are now called upon to build, and this applies most markedly to cars for the Continent and for abroad, where, through the dryness of the climate, the high speeds and rough roads, the wood wheels are quite unsuitable and dangerous. I would like the Directors to distinctly understand that those are my views now, and I strongly depreciate the use of the wood wheels even for English roads, as they cannot be made so strong or so true or so well balanced, and should a wheel collapse at a critical moment, it would be a serious matter. With reference to the Rudge Whitworth detachable wire wheels, these are exceedingly simple, and for this reason they are excellent if they can be relied upon not to move about | ||