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).
Potential improvements to reduce steering wobble, including dampers, spring levers, and worm gears.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 28\4\ Scan301 | |
| Date | 19th August 1925 guessed | |
| contd :- -2- improvement can be made. This commences with lowering the rate of steering so that wobble shocks, and other shocks, do not reach the hands. The larger worm will go further in this same direction The damped spring lever should permit the steering wheel to be held, and low speed wobbles avoided. The effect on high speed wobbles cannot be anything but beneficial, in fact this device should do some good, and we think cannot possibly do any harm, and since we have nothing else ready that could be fitted, we feel sure that these 3 items should be embodied at once pending experience on the road, the reason being that there is every reason to believe they are better than the present combination. The only other hopeful fitting is the hydraulic damper we propose putting on the axle. This is so like the Houdaille ordinary axle damper that this device can be used for temporary test. We do not however require the Houdaille one way valve action. In conclusion, I believe we can only look upon the more flexible longitudinal tube spring as a means of preventing the wobbles reaching the driver. They cannot be of any benefit to the periodicity, and are objectionable inasmuch as they leave the steering sloppy, so that the road wheels are badly affected when the car comes to the side of the road on a big camber, in which case it has a tendency to go still further, whereas the less efficient and slower speed worm should have still more effect in the same way without losing the control of the direction. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||