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).
Performance differences between split and solid leaf springs and the decision on which to standardize.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 80\2\ scan0059 | |
| Date | 26th April 1917 | |
| R.R. 235a (500 T) (S.D. 408. 26-4-17.) Bm. 2/156/13. To H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} from Bn.{W.O. Bentley / Mr Barrington} - 3 - Bn{W.O. Bentley / Mr Barrington}12/WS.2.30 Contd. the chassis when the former is thrown about angularly by, for example, alternate pot-holes. The restering forces provided by the lateral rigidity of the spring alone is of small account until appreciable angular deflections have taken place and we do not yet know definitely to what extent the lateral rigidity is important in this connection. Under similar conditions on the bump test the split springs give a greater angular displacement between the axle and the chassis than with the unsplit springs, but we have not satisfied ourselves completely on this point as regards the action on the road. Any appreciable increase in practice of this angular displacement under similar conditions will reduce the advantage gained by the split springs. It is not practicable to complete our investigations on springs before coming to a decision on what we must do now to meet, firstly, the complaint from Mr. de Salamanca and others, and secondly to safeguard the supply side. We have got to decide at once whether we are to arrange for the continued supply of split springs which are subject to serious complaint, or whether on the information at present available we should adopt the solid springs as standard as soon as the split springs are used up. A possible alternative is that we should continue to use both,- the split springs being used for the town carriage and the solid leaf springs for the fast touring car. One doubts, however, whether some of the modern closed carriages will not be driven at high speeds over bad roads. Since the adoption of solid leaf springs cannot be carried out by Standardisation Sheet immediately owing to the incompletion | ||