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).
Letter to Delco-Remy about a serious issue with distributors causing rapid wear on 25/30 HP cars.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 168\3\ img002 | |
| Date | 4th November 1938 | |
| Rec. 6119 Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}5/R.{Sir Henry Royce} 4th November, 1938. B. Rushton, Esq., Delco-Remy & Hyatt Ltd., 111, Grosvenor Road, S.W.1. Dear Mr. Rushton, A serious situation has arisen with regard to Delco-Remy distributors which we are at present fitting as standard on our 25/30 H.P. cars. A number of cases have occurred where the rubbing block has worn down very rapidly. This has happened on our Works' Director's car, and also on a car which is running in France, and there is a tendency for it to happen on several experimental cars. An examination of the parts show that the brinell of the cam is down, in one particular case it is as low as 186. When this occurs the cam scores and the block wear is much accelerated. We feel that the only satisfactory way of dealing with this matter is to return to you all the distributors we have in stock and get you to check them over in this particular. We will then put them on customers cars and send the distributors so removed to be checked until we have gone over all that may be unsatisfactory. We are sure you will appreciate that a trouble of this nature occurring when the distributor is going into production for the first time is likely to be disastrous to its reputation, and we would, therefore, ask you to treat the matter as extremely serious. Our own cam brinell now is 840. We have found cams of yours up to 410, so presume this is the figure to which you work, though we ourselves prefer the higher value. Yours sincerely, | ||