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 to the Dunlop Rubber Co. Ltd. discussing a proposed tyre modification and concerns over poor non-skid qualities.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 45\2\ Scan183 | |
| Date | 8th November 1929 | |
| X 4050. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}4/AD. 8th November, 1929. The Dunlop Rubber Co.Ltd. Fort Dunlop, Erdington, Birmingham. For the attention of Mr.Bond. Dear Sirs, With reference to yours of the 1st inst. and the 30th ult. We consider that the sketch which you enclosed of our present 33 x 6.75 tyre is a feasible proposition as a modification to increase the life of the existing tyre. The increased width does reduce our steering lock by a small amount, but this appears to be inevitable in any attempt to increase the life of the tread. We should like to try out a set of these covers before you actually introduce them into our production supply, but we do not anticipate that the test would take us very long. We have been somewhat concerned recently as to the effect of increasing the width of tread on the Silent tread tyre. On the 19" rim in particular we have noticed that the Fort 20 HP. type tyres have exceptionally poor non-skidding qualities. This is particularly apparent on a wet tarmac road in a thunderstorm. It would appear that the unit pressure between the road and the tyre is so low that the water is not squeezed out. We are sure that during the coming winter we shall get a number of complaints of insecurity from this type of tyre. We have come to the conclusion that on these wide tread tyres we have not the best compromise, we have sacrificed too much safety for silence. We should therefore like you to consider any small modification to the tread which would increase its non-skid properties without making it too noisy. | ||