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 American branch to the London office discussing high compression engine noise, ignition issues, and modifications.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 19\7\ Scan070 | |
| Date | 9th November 1922 | |
| C O P Y. ROLLS-ROYCE OF AMERICA, INC. SPRINGFIELD, MASS. Oy4-W-11922. November 9, 1922. Mr. Claude Johnson, Rolls-Royce Ltd., London, England. Attention of Mr. F.{Mr Friese} H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} Royce. Mr. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} W. Hives. Dear Sir: Re: Harsh Engines. With regard to Mr. Royce's letter R3/M16.10.22, of which copy was sent to us, I give below a consensus of our ideas on this subject. We find that the high compression engine, as received on one or two English cars, is comparatively noisy in covered bodies, but that the addition of a 1/16" liner under the cylinders greatly reduces the noise. On open bodies, the high compression engine appears to give complete satisfaction to a number of owners of English-built cars. The ignition point has to be closely regulated on the higher compression cars, because, with American gasoline, violent chirping occurs as soon as the spark is too much advanced. It will be recalled that at Springfield, we first made the low-compression car having 28 cu. in. compression space (3.7 to 1), because of the general use of covered bodies. A general complaint of "softness" on the part of customers caused us to change to the medium compression (26 cu. in. 3.9 to 1) as soon as this change was released at Derby, and many early cars have now been altered to medium compression to satisfy the demand of owners for more power. This change has given uniform satisfaction. The 28 cu. in. engine was less sensitive to ignition | ||