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).
Characteristics and potential modifications of flexible steering wheels.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 154\3\ scan0172 | |
| Date | 29th July 1932 | |
| 83861. To Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} From Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}5/MJ.29.7.32. STEERING WHEELS. With reference to Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD}7/D.28.7.32. We will try and get hold of one of these steering wheels for 19-G4., the difficulty is whether we can obtain one to fit our pieces in short a time. We shall send it to Paris. We have tried one of these wheels before but were not very enthusiastic about them because those submitted to us were only flexible in a plane parallel to the axis of the steering column. On a car like the Lorraine, where the suspension is such that the driver is continually being jerked backwards and forwards presumably this is an advantage, but hardly so on a Rolls-Royce. Possibly the new wheel you speak of has tangential flexibility. You will note when "Parking" 19-G4 that it is possible to turn the wheel through perhaps 30º before starting to move the tyres. This is the tangential flexibility we provide by having springs in the mechanism between the column and the wheels (actually in the side steering tube). The amount of flexibility we use is only limited by the "sponginess" or lack of selectivity that the driver can tolerate. Therefore if you like a steering wheel that is tangentially flexible on the R.R. system we can give you the same result by merely weakening the springs that we already have in the system. Our most hopeful modifications is "Friction in the Column" which we have on a Phantom 1 at Derby and which was designed by E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} It would be most interesting to try it on your own P.ll in conjunction with the "shimmy shackle" that you already have. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Sketch attached. | ||