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).
Arguing for the deletion of the dynamo armature fuse from various chassis.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 166\7\ img085 | |
| Date | 5th November 1937 | |
| BY.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} c to Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c to Mx.{John H Maddocks - Chief Proving Officer} c to Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} [Handwritten]: WST [Handwritten]: 6071 [Handwritten]: your comments please Hd{Mr Hayward/Mr Huddy}/SB{Mr Bull/Mr Bannister}20/HR.5.11.37. re DYNAMO ARMATURE FUSE. --------------------- [Handwritten]: Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} We wish to point out that our experience over a number of years indicates that the armature fuse can be dispensed with. There are several reasons for this:- 1. It has never been a protection against dynamo failure; in fact, in the old days when we used to suffer from completely burnt-out armatures the armature fuse was invariably intact. 2. Until we came on to the bottle type fuses it was rare that an armature fuse ever failed. Since we have had the bottle type fuses there has been a number of failures and we have put these down to faulty fuses because there has been no indication of any fault on the system. 3. If the dynamo goes off charge due to failure of the armature fuse, the Owner has no warning because the red lamp does not show as it does in the case of any other break-down in the dynamo circuit. Of course, the ammeter shows there is no charge, but most motorists assume that if the red light is not showing the dynamo is charging, particularly at night. A case has occurred where the battery ran completely down at night for this reason. Deletion of the armature fuse should make quite a saving in wiring without any loss in reliability. This applies to Phantom III, 25/30 HP. and Bentley chassis. Hd{Mr Hayward/Mr Huddy}/SB{Mr Bull/Mr Bannister}3 | ||