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 S.U. Carburetter Co. Ltd. about endurance testing on petrol pumps, focusing on spark quenching and contact point wear.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 149\3\ scan0023 | |
| Date | 11th February 1939 | |
| 1263. EXPERIMENTAL DEPARTMENT. Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/JBD.{John B. Dixon - Fuel Systems}2/JH. 11th. February, 1939. The S.U. Carburetter Co.Ltd., Bordesley Green Road, Adderley Park, BIRMINGHAM.8. For the attention of Mr. Leslie Kent. Dear Sirs, Some time ago I submitted to you an arrangement for quenching the spark on your experimental piston type petrol pump, and would be interested to hear what progress you have made. We have recently completed an endurance run on another pump using a similar type of stainless steel contact submerged in petrol and though claims are made that the sparking has been reduced to a minimum, one plate is burnt through after only 550 hours inspite of the large area of the contact plate. In view of this result we feel that submerging large contact points in petrol will not cure point burning and either the method we suggest or some other should be thoroughly investigated. Results with the additional contact fitted to one of your standard pumps are very promising and after 1400 hours including a lot of running dry, there was less than 25% of the point wear, whereas usually the points are finished after 1,000 hours. We now have the results of the Cathode Ray oscillograph investigation on both voltage and current which clearly show the effect of the additional contact on a cast iron H.P. pump. Cont'd.{John DeLooze - Company Secretary} | ||