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).
Visit to tank trials at Farnborough, discussing tank design, production, and costs with Leyland Motors.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 144\4\ scan0154 | |
| Date | 10th November 1940 | |
| - SECRET - Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} file Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} and Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} from Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}6/ML.10.11.40. VISIT TO TANK TRIALS - FARNBOROUGH. As a result of a discussion with Leyland Motors, we visited the Tank Testing Ground at Farnborough, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, November 6th. to 8th. 1940. At the present moment, Leyland's are manufacturing a tank, but up to date they have been allowed to have little or no say in the design or development of this vehicle. They are thoroughly dissatisfied with many features of design; they think very little of the Meadows flat-12 engine which they are having to produce and which does not give the anticipated horse-power and they consider the number of man-hours necessary to make a tank out of proportion to the results achieved. Tank production has been so slow, and the troubles encountered so numerous that recently there has been a change of heart in the Mechanisation Board, and they appear now to be willing to allow the commercial vehicle manufacturers to have some say in tank design and development. Previously, this had been in the hands of one or two Railway Companies, directed by a Board consisting of Civil Servants and military advisers. Though the power unit required for a tank is very much the same size as that for an aircraft engine, it develops much less horse-power per cu/ins. displacement. This is because a very low grade of fuel is used and full throttle low speed pulling required. Leyland's consider that Messrs Rolls Royce would be able to help them on the power plant question. They are also impressed with the amount of specialised knowledge we have on transmissions and for that reason again wish to have our technical assistance. We therefore accompanied Mr. Pilkington, Chief Engineer at Leyland's, to Farnborough, to obtain a general view of the situation. 1. COST OF TANKS. It is not very easy to ascertain the cost of a tank with any degree of accuracy, but Leyland's say that, from their experience, it works out at about £1,000 per ton. - Continued - | ||