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).
Secret memorandum from 'R' to 'E.A.C.' discussing the cancellation of a previous throttle governor and the design of a new one.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\L\2April1924-June1924\ Scan9 | |
| Date | 14th June 1924 | |
| ORIGINAL TO GT. DJ. HG. HS.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} DV. ## FROM R.{Sir Henry Royce} SECRET. R1/14.6.24. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} A.{Mr Adams} C. THROTTLE GOVERNOR. X9140 I did not think anyone appreciated the advantage of the governor so much - (I doubt if Derby does.) I found P.N. and H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} were very sorry we thought of cancelling this. The reason for cancelling it was for performance, (say about 12%) simplicity, and reliability as a governor controlled valve must be very carefully designed to avoid friction caused by unbalanced suction, and requires keeping clean. All engines and chassis (others as well as our.) have become so extremely complicated that it is desirable to simplify where-ever possible. Since I find it is thought so valuable I have found (in the night) a scheme of operation applicable to a butterfly valve, (which valve has many advantages over others.) This comes about as follows:- Considering that the throttle need only open a very small amount by the governor and hand control, I propose to fit a second lever acting by a mechanical advantage averaging say 5 times over the butterfly valve, (this second lever is mounted on the throttle casting so that the control is not affected by extremely small movements of detached parts) and the effect of the friction of the valve is reduced 5 times. By this device the first opening of the throttle can be as slow as we like. A new governor has been designed running 3 times faster than 40/50, and having the minimum of internal friction. This Governor only affects the water pump drive. It is located on the nose of this drive. A good feature of the new arrangement is that the foot control of the throttle is independent of the governor which saves stress and wear in the governor. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||