Expressing concerns about the design and testing of frame stiffeners for the RE 500 40/50 chassis.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 49\4\ Scan036 | |
| Date | 18th January 1919 | |
| R.R. 235A (500 T) (S.D. 408. 28-4-17.) Bm. 2/156/13. To R. {Sir Henry Royce} from EH. c. to CJ. c. to BY. {R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} c. to E. {Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. to Da. {Bernard Day - Chassis Design} X3440 EH1/LG18.1.19. 18th Jan. 1919. RE 500 40/50 CHASSIS X.1077 X.2565 X3440 It was agreed before the war that frame stiffeners in the rear portion of the frame should be used. A deflection test was taken on a frame fitted with these but no car has been run on the road or on the bumping rig with them. We do not feel very happy with regard to the details of this arrangement. In the first place 2 BA bolts are used for bolting the angle iron to the side member. We consider 2 BA bolts too small to be of any use. It cannot be expected that the angle iron will bed on to the frame so correctly so that the bolts will have to pull these two together. It will be agreed 2 BA bolts are not suitable for this job. Another point we do not like is the plain pieces of tube which are used as distances pieces where the cantilever spring bracket is bolted to the frame and to the cross member. We do not think these distance pieces get hold of the frame sufficiently. We feel concerned about this because that particular point in the frame has given trouble. We have had several cantilever spring brackets break, and we have had several cross members break, we have also had some of the supports for the cantilever spring bracket break. This proves that this point of the frame is very severely stressed so that any alterations which are made should be tested severely before they are adopted on the cars. This, as we have pointed out, has not been done in the case of the frame stiffeners. We also think there is a danger | ||
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).