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).
Tests and recommendations for alternative lubrication oils to 'Prices' oil, which is hard to obtain on the Continent.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 32\3\ Scan123 | |
| Date | 16th March 1926 | |
| To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to CJ. BJ. c. to RG.{Mr Rowledge} E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. to DA.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} SY. c. to Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} MP. X1583 Hal/LG16.3.26. LUBRICATION OILS. +967 We are frequently being asked to recommend an alternative oil to Prices. Prices oil is not easily obtainable in the British Isles and cannot be obtained at all on the Continent. As an alternative oil to Prices, we have tried - Wakefields, Duckhams, Vacuum and Shell. The three latter are straight mineral oils except for Shell super-light oil which from our own laboratory tests contains 4% fatty oils. For efficiency, the Shell super-light oil is very good but the viscosity at normal temperatures is considerably lower than Prices oil. Due to this we have found that if we use super-light oil on cars we do get an increase in noise. There are slight rattles and taps which are damped out with an oil of higher viscosity. Prices oils have served us exceedingly well, therefore in looking for an alternative we have tried to obtain an oil which follows closely their specification. The oil which comes the closest to Prices specification is Wakefields 'XL'. We have used this oil on a large number of tests in France. It has been run [strikethrough]approximately 100,000 miles on[/strikethrough] on Phantom, Silver Ghost and 20 HP. Altogether we have run approx. 100,000 miles on Wakefields XL. oil. In our opinion the results contd :- | ||