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).
Improving the Bijur starter pinion, detailing tests and failures of the cork clutch material.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\L\2April1924-June1924\ Scan26 | |
| Date | 27th June 1924 | |
| R.R. 496a (ROH) (D.A. 652 20-8-24) j.n.d. EXPERIMENTAL REPORT. Expl. No. V3587 REF. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}7/LG27.6.24. To- Mr Frowde Cc-to. Mr. Harvey Cc-to Mr. H.R. Cc-to Mr. Wontley IMPROVED RR. BIJUR STARTER PINION. LECS. 1759 - Lec.1761. LeC.1759. This is a design which enables the RR. Bijur starter pinion to be fitted to existing starter motors with the standard Bendix Drive. It does not demand any alteration to the engine or the starter motor - the drive goes on in place of the standard Bendix. We have carried out severe tests with this arrange-ment making several thousand starts. The trouble we had was that the cork material for the clutch failed. This has been a weakness with the Bijur pinion fitted on standard cars. It has been proved that the agglomerated cork washers which we fitted originally are unreliable. The reason of the failures we think is that the oil destroys the cement used in the manufacture of the agglomerated cork. We have experimented with Halo, Ferodo, cotton fabric, cork inserts and hard sheet cork. We find that the best allround material is two layers of hard sheet cork with one layer of fabric interleaved. We also had failures with the method of taking the drive from the sheet metal plate carrying the cork. There have been several failures on the standard cars with the method of taking the drive. We attach herewith a sketch which we have found to be the most reliable method of fixing the cork washer. contd:- | ||