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 from Mr. Hives to Mr. Warwick about issues with American petrol and various component tests.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 75\2\ scan0208 | |
| Date | 20th December 1920 | |
| ROLLS-ROYCE OF AMERICA, INC. SPRINGFIELD, MASS. X2758 Hsl - G 20.12.20 Dec. 20, 1920 To: Mr. Warwick, Experimental Dept. From: Mr. Hives One of the chief troubles I find they have here with the car is due to the difference in the quality of petrol. I attach herewith a curve which shows the distillation test taken on average American petrol. Would you get Hall in the laboratory to plot on this curve a similar test taken on our average petrol used at Derby. In order to try and vaporize this petrol, I am trying drilling out the rear exhaust box and welding right through the center of it a 1" diameter steel tube. I then arrange the hot air pipe to the low speed throat so that all the air is drawn through this pipe which passes through the exhaust box. I should like you to carry out a similar test at Derby and see what is the loss in H.P. and what other differences you can notice in the running. We are also trying an exhaust heating jacket on the induction pipe. I believe there is an induction pipe somewhere in the experimental stores which has a jacket on it which was used in the water circuit. You might dig that out and fix it up to work on the exhaust and see what results you can obtain. I have had a lot of trouble on the car with the petrol joints on the rear tank. We should try leather washers in place of fibre washers. The fibre, even though the soft fibre is used, soon becomes hard, and once the joint is broken, it cannot be replaced. We certainly want to get those petrol joints so that there is no doubt of their being tight. The bronze and steel plates in the shock absorbers so far work very well. I have run about 900 miles and there is no noise from them. Recently we standardized the Monel Metal gauze for the petrol filters. I think it would be interesting if you would | ||