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 discussing a complaint about excessive oiling from hot drip plugs and proposing a solution.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 26\5\ Scan120 | |
| Date | 27th February 1928 | |
| COPY N.Y. February 27, 1928. Mr. Fred C. Booth, c/o American Express Co., Paris, France. Dear Booth: This will acknowledge your two letters of the 13th., one in regard to Citroen, the other Rolls-Royce. The former we believe, needs no comment and in regard to the latter, J.{Mr Johnson W.M.} E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} writes the following note: Mr. Olley has not been able to locate any troublesome car at Springfield, nor has Long Island City been able to locate any, so that we have not yet actually seen the condition complained of. Consequently, we are guessing. Nevertheless, I venture to say that the following is at the bottom of this complaint: The drip plugs being in a hot place, the flow through them is dependent upon the conditions at the time of pulling the gun. If the gun is pulled when the car first starts out and all drip plugs are at the same temperatures, then there is no difficulty from a hot drip plug. If, however, the gun is pulled after the car has warmed up, then the emission of oil from a hot plug is perhaps ten to twenty times more than normal and great over-oiling results. Consequent upon this, the rate of these hot plugs is made very low, so that they are totally inadequate under normal operating conditions, but still give excessive oiling when they are hot and the rest of the plugs are cold. Now, someone comes along and pulls the gun only when the car is started, and the result is that the water pump, etc. is starved. Our tendency is to avoid the use of any hot drip plugs. We tend toward putting the drip plug in the frame and leading from it a tail pipe to the water pump or part to be lubricated. In this case the tail pipe has to be filled with a pipe cleaner wick or with stranded wire or some other filler, so that it will not take too many shots, before oil from the drip plug first reaches the bearing to be lubricated. For this purpose, we are beginning to plan drip plugs, which can be screwed into junctions and from which tail pipe connections can be made. Yours very truly, (Sgd) B.L.Corp. TRT:ET | ||