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).
Discussion with supplier Alfred Woodhead regarding quality issues with Bentley chassis road springs.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 87\4\ scan0038 | |
| Date | 1st June 1934 | |
| X246 Wor{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} (crossed out) c. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} (crossed out) c. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} (crossed out) c. W/S (C). (crossed out) c. Roy{Sir Henry Royce} (crossed out) BY.1/G.1.6.34. BENTLEY CHASSIS - WOODHEAD ROAD SPRINGS. ------------------------------------------ Mr. Alfred Woodhead came over himself to discuss the complaint we had put forward in regard to the condition in which the springs were being delivered. Prior to his arrival we had, of course, ample evidence to show that the softness of the spring plate was not the final factor in determining whether a spring top plate would buckle or not, but since we have proved we can buckle a plate which is up to correct brinell and within .005" of its correct thickness by jaggers on the front brakes, it is evident that if the spring plate is below the correct brinell that the condition of buckling a spring will be arrived at very much more easily. It was finally agreed between ourselves and Mr. Woodhead that :- (a). He had delivered a number of springs where the top plate varied considerably from its nominal thickness, in some cases being .025" thinner in one place than another, and that this was due to the plates not being ground in a mechanical method, but merely by hand grinding on a wet wheel, instead of sizing accurately between a pair of grinding wheels set closely and maintained closely to dimension. (b). He agreed that he had supplied a large number of springs where the brinell might be down to as low as 321, but tried to impress us with the fact that this was his regular brinell figure and was satisfactory, a view that we could not agree to under any circumstances and assured him of this attitude. We have returned a number of springs to Mr. Woodhead for checking, particularly in regard to the thickness of the top plate. In regard to brinells, Mr. Woodhead was loath to accept the view that he was responsible for seeing that all | ||