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).
Steering box failures and recommending a material change from aluminium to aluminium-bronze.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 38\1\ Scan103 | |
| Date | 12th December 1922 | |
| Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}2/LG12.12.22. RE. STEERING BOXES. We have had a number of steering boxes fail, but so far we have excused them because the car has been known to have had accident. We consider, now however, that we have had sufficient proof to know the steering box is weak. In some cases where the boxes have failed, the car has been driven after the accident with no knowledge that the steering box was cracked. This might result in a serious accident. We recommend that we should immediately change the material of the 40/50 Steering Box from aluminium to aluminium-bronze. So far, we have not been able to reproduce these failures in any of our tests. We have had no failures on the bumping rig - we have also tried severe bumps on the wheel. We suggest the right policy is to strengthen the steering box immediately and at the same time try experiments to reproduce the failures. We attach a copy of a memo. we have received from Cricklewood - ref. Br1/H4.12.22. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||