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).
Endurance testing of Hall's Metal Bearings compared to lead bronze and white metal alloys.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 114\2\ scan0185 | |
| Date | 21th September 1935 | |
| X1020 To Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. to E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. to Ey. c. to Hl. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}20/KW.21.9.35. Hall's Metal Bearings. We have carried out various endurance running on Hall's metal bearings. On the last run a big end failed after 42½ hours' endurance, two others were in poor shape as will be seen from the attached photographs. Lead bronze big ends have stood over 100 hours of similar treatment without showing signs of distress. The attached photographs show some that have done 82 hours running. Briefly, Hall's bearing alloy has so far shown itself to be (1) better than white metal for both big ends and main bearings, (2) not so good at standing up under load as lead bronze, but better than lead bronze insofar as it requires less clearance and consequently does not affect the oil consumption of the unit to the same extent. We have of course many hundreds of hours' experience running lead bronze bearings, whereas the work we have so far done on the new alloy has of necessity been extremely limited. The results are so promising, however, that we are fitting it to every experimental Bentley engine we can get hold of, and it will be going to France on the big bore unit for a 10,000 miles test in about 10 days' time. We are particularly anxious to prove this bearing alloy as the success of the big bore unit depends upon it. Doing all we can, we expect it will be about 6 months before we really know very much about the new alloy. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||