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 G.W. Hancock outlining proposed modifications to a Spectre gearbox to resolve lubrication issues.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 91\4\ scan0120 | |
| Date | 19th July 1935 | |
| K300a G.W. Hancock, Esq., Hotel de France, Chateauroux, Indre, France. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/FJH.{Fred J. Hardy - Chief Dev. Engineer}15/KW.19.7.35. As a result of your troubles with the lubrication of the gearbox, we are making a rig to enable us to run a SpectreCodename for Phantom III gearbox light at high speeds. It seems that the troubles are lack of oil in the following places :- (1) 2nd speed gear bushes. (2) 3rd speed gear bushes. (3) Bush between 1st and 3rd motion shafts. (4) 3rd speed S.M. cones. (5) Top gear S.M. cones. The modifications that we propose to try in an attempt to overcome the above troubles are as follows. (1) The three holes that you have drilled in the 2nd motion shaft seems to have cured the trouble in this position and we shall do the same on our rig. (2) & (3) For the 3rd speed bushes we shall try making the bushes a tight fit in the gear and cutting an oil thread on the inside of the rear bush and on the face of this bush as on the attached fig. 1. If this thread appears to pump any oil we shall try to make it feed the bush between the 1st and 3rd motion shafts by drilling holes in the same way as you have done on the 2nd motion shaft, sealing the rear end of the 3rd motion shaft and drilling out the solid portion at the front end of this shaft. (4) For the 3rd speed S.M. cones we think an almost certain cure would be to drill holes in the outer cone as on the attached Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} 2073. | ||