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).
Continued discussion on the physics of wheel motion, specifically conical oscillation and precession.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 29\1\ Scan024 | |
| Date | 4th September 1925 | |
| Contd. -2- EFC6/T4.9.25. the period of revolution, also applies. If the body has three equal principal moments of inertia it is equi-momental to a sphere, in which case the combined effect of the rotational motion about the axis which is describing the cone, and the motion of that axis itself, is equivalent to a simple rotation of the sphere about the axis of the cone. (2) Can it be at wheel speed with suitable mounting ? At the moment I cannot say. Inertia effects of the whole mass of the wheel at its c.m. enter into consideration and it appears possible that it can. In the case of a body like a front wheel, supported as in (1), the conical oscillation is faster than the rotation. If, therefore, it is supported in some other manner it appears that added inertia effects may slow it down to equality. (3) Is it the same as the ordinary precession ? By precession we generally understand a state of steady relatively slow conical motion resulting from the application of an external couple. The rapid conical oscillation of the uni-axal body is a precession in this sense that it may be looked upon as a type of precession in which the centrifugal couple of the wheel at oscillation speed, tending to right itself on the cone axis (like battery ignition governor weights), provides the couple Contd. | ||