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).
The failure of a camshaft vertical drive on an X.F.8. engine during endurance testing.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 43\3\ Scan131 | |
| Date | 24th February 1927 | |
| Yeoos To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. BJ. Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. Rg.{Mr Rowledge} E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. Ex. Hsl/T24.2.27. FAILURE OF CAMSHAFT VERTICAL DRIVE ON X.F.8. Y3870 The above engine has been running endurance tests on the hangar at 2100 r.p.m. which is practically equivalent to 9/10 throttle. When 38 hrs. had been accomplished a sudden stoppage occurred. Investigation disclosed that the splines on the camshaft vertical drive (E.28143) which engages with the bevel pinion (E.28147) had stripped. This pinion drives the camshafts. The total running time of this component is 410 hrs., but it had not run previously on the hangar. We have had trouble on other engines with parts driven through the spring drive, when being run on hangar; and cannot but think that there must be a vibratory condition set up by the prop. which we do not get on test bed. The prop. is a 2-blader supplied by Fairey's, and when running sets up an excessively loud hum. No excessive vibration is felt on the exterior of engine, in fact it is quite smooth. It is therefore proposed to make investigations into spring drive oscillations etc. on both bed and hangar with the same engine, in order to gain definite information on the cause of these failures on hangar. We have a scheme similar to that used on the car engine crankshafts; tests on the bench show the camshaft drive to be quite steady. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||