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 confirming a conversation about the development and use of Safety Fuels for marine engines.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 151\1\ scan0113 | |
| Date | 17th April 1940 | |
| KCH/B 17th April, 1940. Messrs. Rolls-Royce, Ltd., DERBY. Attention - D.G. Abbot-Anderson, Esq. Dear Mr. Anderson, As promised, I am writing you to confirm our recent conversation on Safety Fuels in which you are interested from the marine engine standpoint. As I told you, there has been very little engine development work carried out in this country on these fuels, but the general impression is - and this is, so far, borne out by tests - that for satisfactory operation it is essential to inject the fuel direct into the cylinder head, utilizing, of course, spark ignition. Injection into the port has not proved to be entirely satisfactory. We are not in possession of any reliable data regarding the cold starting capabilities of Safety Fuel, but we rather lean to the view that the use of gasoline may be essential for this purpose, though it should, undoubtedly, be possible to go over to Safety Fuel after a very short warming-up period. At this stage it is, of course, impossible to give you any guidance as regards future distribution of this fuel, but I think you can take it that the availability and, of course, price, will be almost entirely dependent on the demand. The question of general availability as affecting a motor boat user would, perhaps, be eased by the fact that an engine which has been designed to operate satisfactorily on Safety Fuel will certainly give equal satisfaction on motor or aviation spirit of the same octane number, though the converse of this is not true, i.e. an engine designed for petrol injection will not necessarily operate satisfactorily on a Safety Fuel. An experimental quantity of Safety Fuel will shortly be available in this country, and will have an approximate boiling range of 320 to 365F., a Flash Point of | ||