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).
Letter to The Rover Company inquiring about the design and manufacturing of quiet gearboxes, specifically the Morris 8.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 127\2\ scan0182 | |
| Date | 26th June 1941 | |
| 109( 26th June, 1941. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}4/LT. W.R. BOYLE, Esq., The Rover Company Ltd., CLITHEROE. Lancs. Dear Boyle, In our spare moments we have been doing a little work on transmission. On our Bentley V box, we have gone to a considerable amount of trouble and expense to get a quiet bottom gear. We started with straight teeth, but, even when ground, these were not reasonably quiet, and so we went to helical gears. This involved a considerable amount of complication. Recently, we have been running a Morris 8, and we find that this has a very excellent degree of bottom gear silence, with straight spur gears. Investigation shows this Morris box to be very similar in design to the Austin, also straight spur gears, but the Austin is noisy. In other words, apart from the design, there is a good deal in "knowing how" in the manufacture of the pieces. Do you know who is responsible for engineering the Morris 8 box, and if he is likely to be able to give a coherent explanation of the success he has obtained. I hear that the device you are sponsoring is shewing promise, and wish you the best of luck. Yours sincerely, | ||