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).
Front spring failures for the Goshawk model, and the testing of new springs with an increased rating.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\I\June1922\ Scan36 | |
| Date | 28th June 1922 | |
| To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to CJ. c. to E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. to Dk. c. to EY. ORIGINAL. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}4/LG28.6.22. "GOSHAWK" FRONT SPRINGS. V4261 The following are the records of front springs failures on Goshawk 11. cars in France. 5-Goshawk-11 - run 10,000 miles 2 top leaves. 6-Goshawk-11 - run 14,000 miles 3 top leaves. 7-Goshawk-11 - run 5,000 miles 1 top leaf. From these records, the top leaves last approximately 5,000 miles. We consider the percentage of front springs breaking is far too high; it is very much worse than the 40/50. We have received from Messrs. Woodheads 3 sets of springs made with the increased rating. The initial camber being 2 1/4" instead of 3". We have sent one set of these springs to France for 7-Goshawk-11. We have also fitted one set to the limousine car 8-Goshawk-11. We find on there that they are better as regards reducing the bumping on the buffers on the front of the car, and there is no apparent disadvantage in the riding. We have also run a third set on the bump test. They ran on there for 21 1/4 hours before breaking. Both of them were found broken at the same time. The hours on the bump test are above the average - the recent average of front spring top leaves has been 15 hours. The springs with increased rating, is the only experiment in hand on front springs. We understand the thinner top plates cannot be made. We are obtaining further sets of front springs with increased rating. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||