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).
New automatic oil control system and a novel hydraulic brake system for a Bensport model.
Identifier | ExFiles\Box 15\6\ Scan181 | |
Date | 10th October 1932 guessed | |
-2- We are adding to this system of oil control which has the additional merit of being automatic. We have no doubt that this sch. will be found quite reliable and practical. It naturally takes more time than strings, wires, screws, and handles, that require a good deal of attention from the driver, as well as being of a very doubtful permanency. (I notice in relation to this item that apparently a French firm - Andre/Hartford - are using hydraulic control, hand operated to their mechanical dampers. We understand the reason is to obtain equal effect on all the dampers.) Our two items should be patentable, separately and combined, but we are not quite sure whether we have an older patent which may upset the possibility of our obtaining one at this date. (3) BRAKES. The third item of novelty is the brake system that we are proposing to fit to Bensport. In this we contemplate using hydraulic transmission and distribution to the various brakes, which is not novel, it having been proposed and done 25 yrs. ago. We stop short however of carrying the hydraulic work on to the axles because we object to flexible tubes and hydraulic cylinders on the axles and in the brake drums for reasons that are obvious. We fix the operating cylinders on the frame and connect in the usual way to the brakes by wire rope cable, or rods. We should doubt however if this arrangement is novel enough to obtain a patent. We have however added to it a system of taking up the brakes which appears to us to be novel, the point being that we automatically control the amount of release given to each brake separately, the result being that the pedal stroke continues the same, and the brakes are actually taken up by the lengthening of the oil column in the system. This seems to have no disadvantage over taking the brake up in the more usual way, and has the great advantage that the taking up mechanism is only loaded with the pull off springs, and not with the brake actuating forces. In this way we believe it is quite novel. Should the direct acting brakes not prove sufficiently powerful combined with a practical clearance we have arranged to reinforce the pedal pressure which falls on the master cylinder by our present double acting servo. This servo promises to be simpler, when used in this way, than our | ||