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).
Comparative analysis of a competitor's silencer, bonnet, and dashboard construction.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 127\1\ scan0249 | |
| Date | 20th November 1935 | |
| -7- Sft{Mr Swift}/Sctl/BH.20.11.35. Over the whole unit there is a lack of elaboration which we are used to, such items as heat-shields, asbestos and sheet metal lagging being absent. Our method of suspension, with its costly brackets, rubber cups and blocks, springs etc., is in striking contrast with theirs. Though, we suppose effective, no silencer suspension could be more crude. A piece of flat stock approximately 1 5/8" wide x 1/8" thick x 10" long, is the main support. One end is formed into a clamping ring and grips the silencer pipe, the other end is bent at right angles and bolted to the frame, A strip of rubber matting placed between the stay and the frame, serves as flexible rubber suspension. We estimate that the cost to produce this silencer would be approximately 6% of the cost of the R.R. Silencer system. This would include the saving made in the time for erecting. BONNET. This item is made from Sheet metal and is mainly press work, and the design is such that the whole constitute a much cheaper product than that of Rolls-Royce. DASHBOARD. The Dashboard is a sheet steel pressing about 1/16" thick, and, for what it is, a good piece of work. When compared with our own, its cost of both making and fitting must be remarkably low. The face of the board only appears to have attached to it, the two horns. Conduits for wires, clips, brackets, and a host of other units, which are a x feature of our own, are simply not there. What may be considered as a noise exclusion scheme consists of a large piece of cheap looking felt placed over the face of the dash on the drivers side. This felt is held in position by a covering of repulsive looking American cloth or imitation leather, the whole being tacked to the board by large head nails or rivets, the ends of which are split for turning over. | ||