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).
Visits to Austin and Daimler concerning cylinder boring techniques and the use of dummy heads.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 27\2\ Scan243 | |
| Date | 2nd July 1934 | |
| Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} V1775 To Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} and-Wer. From E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} E.1/HP.2.7.34. c. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Sft.{Mr Swift} By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Ws. W/SN.{Mr Sanderson} Visits to Austin and Daimler ------------------------- of Sft.{Mr Swift} and E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} --------------- The main object of the visits was to see cylinder bores being finished by means of a fine boring cut on Krause and similar machines but naturally other information was gathered in passing. Sft.{Mr Swift} will report with particular reference to the production side, but from a design point of view we were interested to note that the seven H.P. Austin cylinders were bored with a dummy head bolted into position to eliminate bore distortion produced by the bolting on of the heads. This is easy to do on a side valve engine as the dummy merely consists of a standard head with holes cut in the top the size of the bores. The valve seats were also being cut and the valves seated with the same head in position having suitable holes for the purpose. The bottom of the bore has cast gaps for connecting rod clearance but Austin's say this does not mar the work in any way. The seven H.P. cylinder block is bolted to its aluminium crankcase independently of the head and no attempt is made to cover any distortion arising from this source in the lower part of the bores, and is considered to be unnecessary on this engine. In the larger Austin engines the cylinder boring is done without a dummy head and Austins say they find the larger engines are stiffer and do not need the head to be bolted on during boring. This is decidedly inconsistent as the same strains are proportionately present, but Mr Armitage who showed us round admitted that they were working to some extent in the dark, and that the cylinder bores previous to the introduction of fine boring were done anyway so badly that there was bound | ||