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).
Standardization of instrument boards and the process involving coachbuilders for Goshawk and Swallow models.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 41\3\ Scan057 | |
| Date | 15th December 1921 guessed | |
| contd:- -2- Mr. Spinney is the one to watch developments and let us know if any scheme is working well, because it is very costly to standardise anything, and then change it to some other scheme. As far as my impressions go - 1. The position, height, angle and distance, ought to be capable of being made standard for a given style of steering. 2. The size could be cut down from an ample board that we could send. 3. The material and finish is a very difficult matter which Mr. Spinney may give us an opinion upon. I do not consider that there is room to fit a small board of metal or wood to carry all the fittings, and then let the coachbuilder surround this with a frame; it would not result in a clean finished piece of work. Therefore my conclusion is that a standard position could be adopted. It is not worth while supplying anything but a quite temporary board with the instruments on, but properly fitted up, tested and the connections cut and marked. Therefore there should be a really convenient scheme of detaching and stripping everything and re-connecting up without risk of error. Coachbuilders should have good artisans that can do what is necessary. Standard bodies might have suitable instrument boards made at Derby, but still I believe they would need fitting and polishing by coachbuilders and therefore stripping. Anyone who doubts these conclusions should write to me. Unless we hear to the contrary we are proceeding on these lines for Goshawk and Swallow. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||