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).
Investigation and reduction of scuttle shake in a 10-B-V Coupe body.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 117\3\ scan0024 | |
| Date | 6th May 1940 | |
| To Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} from Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/FD.{Frank Dodd - Bodies} Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/FD.{Frank Dodd - Bodies}1/SW.6.5.40. 10-B-V Coupe Scuttle Shake. The Coupe body is still undoubtedly very popular with the owner driver, mainly because of the smart body lines which can be obtained with this type of coachwork, and also because it satisfies the open car enthusiasts. Yet it has always presented a great problem to our coach-builders in the form of scuttle shake, and, while many customers have accepted the shivering of the car as part of the price to be paid for owning a Coupe, others have regretfully turned to the more solid construction of a Saloon body. The Coupe body by Park Ward, fitted to our Experimental Bentley V Chassis seemed to suffer even more than usual from scuttle shake, although when the body was originally built the question of scuttle shake was discussed at the coachbuilders and everything then known was built into the construction. At a later date, the shake being so bad, a second attempt was made to improve the car, by Park Ward Ltd., and an entirely new scuttle was built on to the original body. We were still dissatisfied with the results however, so yet a further attempt has been made to reduce the shake, and although we have not removed the shake entirely, we have effected such improvement that it is not objectionable from the driver's point of view. To enable us to record the progress, a special rig was built up to record the strip readings of the scuttle movement. The pen being fixed in the centre of the scuttle rail, and the paper strip driven by a small electric motor at constant speed, photograph of the apparatus is attached. Many tests were taken, and as was to be expected, many proved ineffectual, but we gradually improved the shake and finally got it down to an 80% improvement, the last 20% does not make itself apparent when driving the car and does not worry the driver. One great advantage is that the faster the car is driven, the steadier becomes the scuttle, so that at 80 m.p.h. there is practically no visible movement. -cont'd- | ||