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 Gates Rubber Co. regarding issues with a fan belt drive and the testing of American belts.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 135\1\ scan0126 | |
| Date | 15th February 1938 | |
| 1135 RM{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/Std.1/MH.{M. Huckerby} 15th. February 1938. Messrs. The Gates Rubber Co., Sales Division Inc., Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. For the attention of Mr.C.A.Winser. Dear Sirs, I have received your letter of Jan. 27th. and must apologise for my apparent discourtesy in not replying before to your letter of Dec. 9th. continuing your very kind offers of assistance. Actually what has happened is this - we have for some time had trouble with a fan belt drive on our 40/50H.P. car using a belt as shown on our drawing EXS.194 which you have. At maximum engine speeds this belt has to transmit something like 16-20 H.P. All the British made belts which we had tried were unsatisfactory and we therefore decided to test out some American belts to see whether their different construction, using multiple small cords instead of our single large one, gave genuine advantages - hence our order to you via Mr. Pound of the Harrison Radiator Corporation for fan belts to EB.221 and EXS.194. Since the beginning of December, however, we have discovered a Company in this country who are shortly marketing a belt similar in construction to the various American belts, although it does not, of course, have your own feature of concave sidewalls. We therefore commenced tests on this new belt and found it far superior to our old belts in durability, freedom from stretch, ability to transmit power etc. We thought it best to await the results of tests on this belt before taking advantage of your generous offer to assist us in our belt drive problems, since these tests would give us a lead on what to expect from the American type of belt construction. | ||