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).
Conference minutes, production continuity, and experimental gearbox development.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 57\1\ Scan078 | |
| Date | 26th January 1925 | |
| To CL - from Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. to R Dev AJS. BY.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} X.5770 Wor{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager}1/M26/1/25. SECRET. U.S.A. Attached is copy of Minutes of Conference held on Saturday last. From a production point of view, if these Minutes are adopted in their entirety, there is a possibility that it should shorten the delay mentioned in my memo Wor{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager}4/M21/1/25. It will, however, be necessary, in order to keep up a continuity of 20's to make some proportion of the 170 similar to the chassis we are now making. We have about 80 of our present type to put on test and at 11 a week they will roughly last us 7 weeks. I therefore suggest, for your agreement, that you give us further instructions to put in hand 50 of the 170 sets of material in production, similar to the type we are now making, and to review the position again in a month's time. We shall also be pleased if you will say if you are in agreement with the Minutes, so that we may proceed to put the three gearboxes through experimentally as rapidly as possible. P.S. Since writing the above, I have had a further conference with Messrs Elliott, Day and Stent, and they say they would want a longer time for No.2 item ( i.e. 3-speed box with right-hand change suitable for 4-wheel brakes,) than a month, because a good bit of design work would have to be done and it would all have to be submitted to Mr.Royce, and they are not able to tell us quite how long this will take. These gentlemen from West WitteringHenry Royce's home town are still staying at Derby, making further experiments with the 4-speed box right-hand change suitable for 4-wheel brakes, that failed, and Mr. Elliott reports this afternoon that in a short time they will have solved the difficulty with this box. Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} Enc. | ||