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).
Letter to The British Thermostat Co. Ltd. regarding a potential bellows failure in a unit.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 156\2\ scan0031 | |
| Date | 18th February 1938 | |
| 1328 Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/Std.10/JH. 18th February, 1938. The British Thermostat Co.Ltd. Teddington Works, Windmill Road, Sunbury on Thames. MIDDX. For the attention of Mr. Martin Hurst. Dear Sirs, ^ We have received your letter of the 15th inst. and the sketch mentioned therein, for which we thank you. We are arranging to use a baffle plate as per your sketch but are not satisfied about the question of valve position in case of bellows failure. As suggested we have let the charge out of a relatively new unit which has only done a little running, say 200 miles and find that the free length is such that the valve is open .170. This of course is not the full lift of .300 which you say it should have, if the bellows definitely had that free length before being used it must mean that water pressure has partially collapsed the bellows. If this had taken place one would expect the running temperature to be noticeably raised - this has not occured. We are returning the unit to you for examination, recharging and resetting - our replacement order for this unit will follow. We would like you to repair the first unit also and return it to us. We are awaiting with interest the results of the pressure tests on different thickness bellows and would like to receive results of same as soon as they are available. Yours faithfully, FOR ROLLS-ROYCE LTD. | ||