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 from the Vacuum Oil Company to S. H. Grylls regarding the company's policy on oil grade numbering, specifically the VIS and S.A.E. classifications.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 145\1\ scan0250 | |
| Date | 21th March 1938 | |
| 1229 BY APPOINTMENT VACUUM OIL COMPANY LIMITED GARGOYLE TELEPHONE WHITEHALL 1010 (14 LINES) TELEGRAMS VACUUM . PHONE . LONDON CAXTON HOUSE . WESTMINSTER LONDON S·W·I REFERENCE OTJ. 21st March 1938. S. H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} Grylls Esq., Rolls Royce Limited, DERBY. Dear Mr. Grylls, I am sorry not to have been able to reply to your letter of the 21st February. We put on our oil packages at the present time the numbers VIS 20, 30 and 50, on the grades respectively MOBILOIL ARCTIC, A, and BB. The first two numbers were included at the request of Messrs Vauxhall Motors Limited as there was less objection in regard to the Vauxhall specifications than there is to the S.A.E. Numbers. As you know the S.A.E. classifications are so wide that they give not the least indication of the quality of the oil referred to. We have not put a VIS Number on MOBILOIL D packages, as this grade is practically solely used in Motor Cycle engines and Sports cars, but you will be interested to know that both Mobiloil D and BB come within S.A.E.50 classification, which serves to show the extent to which two oils of different types come within the same numbered rating. Our own attitude towards the numbering of oils is that by indiscriminate use of numbers it is possible for poor-quality oils to be placed on the same footing as high grades, where classifications are as wide as in the case of the S.A.E. Also there is the fact that if the public gets used to simply ordering oils by grade numbers, then the tendency is towards the use of poorer quality oils rather than the brands normally recommended by Engine Builders, which is a thing we wish to avoid, and we believe that because of the continued improvement in the efficiency of Motor Car Engines, the Builders are all the more interested in high-quality oils being used in their units after leaving the Works. UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE ALL OILS ARE QUOTED AND INVOICED PER UNIT GALLON OF 9 LBS, AND ALL QUOTATIONS ARE WITHOUT ENGAGEMENT | ||