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).
Design and limitations of the Diamond engine mounting system.
| Identifier | Morton\M9\ img080 | |
| Date | 16th November 1931 | |
| To R.{Sir Henry Royce} From Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. to E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. to By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} ORIGINAL Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}8/MJ.16.11.31. X.7005. X.5085. DIAMOND ENGINE MOUNTING. The design of Diamond engine mounting so far has been on the basis of a conversion scheme which could be applied to existing cars using existing material. Because of these limitations we believe the design suffers. The criticism we have against the present scheme is that the movement of the engine also causes movement on the pedals, movement on the gear lever, (the gear lever movement is very noticeable in the case of the left-hand car with the long central levers). There is also difficulty with the side spare wheel carriers and also trouble in getting gas-tight floorboards and still allow for the movement of the gear lever. The accessibility of the front of the engine and also the gearbox, is considerably worse than it was. The point arises then whether it would not be better to have a separate gearbox instead of the unit construction. Our opinion is that for the big car this should be an advantage. The advantages we should expect to gain would be that the engine movement would not be felt on the pedals, gear lever, etc. We should have a fixed gearbox, this should be more accessible. It would enable us to get a cross member closer to the engine, which would help us with spare wheel carriers and frame stiffness. For the small car, 'Peregrine', one would say the unit construction would be used. For J.3 the unit construction may or may not be an advantage. In any case we think our design of Diamond engine mounting should be gone over. The production people are criticising the present scheme and we consider it is justified. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||