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).
Experiments to resolve headlamp and wing movement on the Bentley, focusing on one-piece wings.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 3\6\ 06-page251 | |
| Date | 11th October 1934 | |
| To SG.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} From Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} c. to WGR. c. to G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} c. to S. c. to A.{Mr Adams} c. to Hy.{Tom Haldenby - Plant Engineer} c. to Ds. c. to Bm. c. to Fg. c. to V.{VIENNA} Head Lamp & Wing Movement on the Bentley. ======================================= We have now completed a series of experiments on this problem. The three items we have been testing are :- (a) One-piece wings. (b) Dropped cross member between the lamps. (c) A torsional stabiliser in the form of a bumper bar. (a) One-Piece Wings. In the first place it should be explained that wing and headlamp movement is a function of the complete car. This means that in the case of the Bentley, an open car generally speaking does not suffer from the trouble. A drop-head Coupe or any type of closed body having little or no torsional rigidity behaves in much the same way as the open car. A rigid saloon or any car of this type alters the frame frequency sufficiently to run into bad wing and lamp movement. Since single piece wings have largely been fitted to open cars people have - not unnaturally - connected this type of wing with absence of front end movement. We have made careful tests, fitting these wings to the Saloon car and comparing them with the ordinary type of wing. We find that there is little or no advantage in the single piece wing except in so far as it is less likely to be insecurely attached to the chassis. We have come across instances where Coachbuilders have so altered the wing stays that they have lost all their strength and in consequence the wings have moved independently of the chassis frame. For this reason we propose to run single piece wings on our next 10,000 miles test, and if they do not crack up they would appear to be worth standardising. | ||