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).
The catastrophic failure of a cast aluminium front expansion box and a request for a steel replacement.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 11\3\ 03-page171 | |
| Date | 8th July 1930 | |
| To: Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} From G.W.H. By Da{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} E Hôtel de France, Châteauroux, Indre. 8/7/30. We have to-day sent you the following telegram:- FRONT EXPANSION BOX COLLAPSED BEYOND REPAIR. The flange where the downtake pipe is joined to the front expansion chamber completely collapsed during the early part of this morning's run. Also a large hole was burnt through the aluminium box by the escape of the exhaust gas. The pipe finally dropping completely away. The cause of the failure in the first place is the weak flanges; these cracked, then opened outwards, and the exhaust gas then was sufficiently hot to melt the aluminium. This front expansion chamber cannot be as strong as the one previously run on 23-EX, as there was no failure of this kind took place. We are endeavouring to rig up a straight through pipe for the time being, but it certainly means that the cast aluminium box is a failure. Can you send the steel front expansion box with an intermediate pipe made to suit the sliding joint? Otherwise, we cannot carry on. G.W.H. [Handwritten signature] [Indecipherable shorthand notes] | ||