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 discussing the poor condition of connecting rod bearings in a Phantom III Paris Demonstrator.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 146\2\ scan0167 | |
| Date | 1st April 1937 | |
| 1245 To Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/Grys. Derby. Levallois Sr.9/ET.1.4.37. Re: CHASSIS 3.AZ.20 - PARIS DEMONSTRATOR I 'phoned you this afternoon, but you were out and I spoke to Leslie and explained to him that, prior to Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}'s departure for the States, he "phoned through to me suggesting that we should take our Phantom III demonstrator engine down as soon as convenient, so as to get a figure of merit for continental driven Phantom III cars, with regard to bearings. This car has now covered 24.323 Kms. and we find two connecting rod bearings in bad condition, the remainder being fair. I feel sure you will agree with me that it would be ridiculous to put these back into the car although, if they had not been taken down, they would, with the exception of Nos. 1 and 2, have done quite a few more miles. However, as this is more or less of an experiment, I think you had better see these parts and we are therefore sending them back to you and I have asked Leslie to have sent to us another set of connecting rod bearings reamered to size, as we do not want to have anything to do except put them on the car, as we have not taken the engine out of the chassis to carry out this somewhat complicated operation! I trust the information gained when you have looked at these bearings will be satisfactory. Whilst on the subject, I presume you will speak to Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} about this matter, as I believe Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}'s intention was to find out what was likely to happen with Ph.III bearings after a certain mileage and, having found it out, to decide upon a policy concerning these bearings. Sr. | ||