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).
Failure of 40/50 steering boxes and the need for a design change to prevent sudden breakage.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 38\1\ Scan083 | |
| Date | 20th June 1921 | |
| X3465 To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to CJ. c. to E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. to Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. to BY.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}3/LG20.6.21. X3465 FAILURE OF 40/50 STEERING BOXES. We are sending to Mr. Royce a sample of a broken steering box. This was returned to us from France last week. The Test Department wrote and asked for particulars as to whether the car had been in an accident. The reply was - "No, the car was being driven normally when the box collapsed". We should anticipate that the fracture was started originally by a severe shock on the steering. We view the failure of the steering box as very serious. We have now had about half-a-dozen of these boxes fail and although with previous failures the cars have been in an accident, we think it is very serious because no other part of the car is damaged. We consider it is essential on the steering that the parts should be such as to not suddenly break. It would be desirable that the weakest link should bend in the steering gear. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||