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).
Potential improvements to Standard Watford Magnetos regarding performance and noise.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 48\2\ Scan444 | |
| Date | 29th March 1926 | |
| To Wd. {Mr Wood / Mr Whitehead} from EFC. {E. Fowler Clarke - Electrical Engineer} c. By. {R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} EP. {G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer} X8796 EFC {E. Fowler Clarke - Electrical Engineer} 1/T29.3.26. X.8796 - STANDARD WATFORD MAGNETOS. Reference your Wd {Mr Wood / Mr Whitehead} 2/NJ11.2.26. We have now thoroughly considered this matter of the timing of the standard Watford magnetos and we are of the opinion that considerable general improvement may be possible in these magnetos, both as regards performance and contact-maker noise, by carefully re-arranging the cams and the timing generally. We have not yet been able to carry out actual tests to justify our conclusions experimentally, but we are preparing apparatus in order to do this in due course. Firstly, with regard to the points contained in their letter of the 10th February; we agree that it is most desirable for the distributor brush to remain in contact with a segment throughout the period of break, when the magneto is running, as it is for all except a very small fraction of the time, in a more than half advanced position, in order that no drawing out of the arc at the trailing edge of the segment shall take place and so burn away the distributor insulation, but when the magneto is running retarded, it is running at a slow speed, and the unwanted excess energy is small or negligible, and there is ample time for it to be frittered away as compared with the time elapsing before the Contd. | ||