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).
Proposal to source a complete instrument board for the 20/25 HP chassis from Messrs Smiths.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 181\M13\M13.2\ img020 | |
| Date | 23th October 1931 | |
| ORIGINAL Smiths Proposals to Rationalised Panel of Instruments typed To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst. c. to Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. to R.{Sir Henry Royce} Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. to Hy.{Tom Haldenby - Plant Engineer} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst.4/WT.23.10.31. X5830 X7830 20/25 HP. INSTRUMENT BOARD. We consider that customers should be supplied with a complete instrument board on the 20/25 HP. chassis in a similar manner to the 40/50. Whilst at Olympia we discussed with the Sales Director of Messrs Smiths, Mr. Nichols, the suggestion that they should make up a grouped instrument board on the lines of the RR. 40/50 instrument patch, they themselves also supplying all the instruments. As they control the A.T. Speedometer Co. and manufacture electric clocks, ammeters etc. for other high class cars we think there would be little difficulty in our obtaining from them good quality instruments. Mr. Nichols was confident that he could supply us with an instrument board more or less to our specification at a considerably reduced cost to us than our own. Our present standard 40/50 die-cast aluminium instrument board is relatively expensive to produce and additionally we purchase all our instruments from different sources, viz, moving coil ammeter from Ferranti, Clock from Messrs Norths', Speedometer from A.T's, Thermometer from the Cambridge Inst. Co. Oil Gauge from Dewrances and Petrol Level Indicator from Hobsons'. Messrs Smiths could supply us with the A.T. speedometer, Smith electric clock, Smiths moving iron ammeter, Smiths combined thermometer and oil gauge, and Smiths electric petrol level indicator, etc. The reliability of Smiths instruments has been indicated by the fact that they were fitted to the B6.B, Miss England II, and Sir Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird. Messrs Smiths' are therefore going to submit proposals to us for the manufacture of the 20/25 instrument board complete with the instruments mentioned above, modelled on the lines of our present 40/50 instrument patch. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst. | ||