Rolls-Royce

“ It should need no stating that Rolls-Royce automobiles are not made according to the tastes of rag-pickers and ditch-diggers, nor yet of poets and saints; they are made according to the tastes of people who can afford to pay for Rolls-Royce automobiles. ”

“ The Rolls-Royce engine develops 375 horse-power at 1,800 revolutions of the crank-shaft. A four-bladed propeller is used geared down to 1,281 revolutions. The Sopwith machine weighs 6,000 pounds fully equipped for the transatlantic flight. In the trial test the engine consumed 146 gallons of petrol—slightly over one-third the capacity of the tanks, which are placed behind the engine and in front of the cockpit in which Major Hawker and Commander Grieve sit. ”

“ The Rolls-Royce Co. wished to manufacture here its "190," an engine developing from 250 to 270 horsepower; and for this effort it was prepared to send to the United States at once a complete set of jigs, gauges, and all other necessary tooling of a Rolls-Royce plant. With this equipment ready at hand the company expected to produce about 500 American-built Rolls-Royce engines before the 1st of July, 1918. ”

“ They diligently fostered the efforts of the leading motor-car companies, especially the Sunbeam and Rolls-Royce, and so were instrumental in the production of very efficient engines of high horse-power. ”

“ Rolls-Royce, conscious of the curious gaze of the entire company, pulls himself together and regards his accuser unfavourably.
"First I've 'eard of it," he growls. "Where was the balloon anyway? In the road, I s'pose?"
"Yes, it was in the road," retorts the other defiantly, "where it's got every right to be. Road's there for the convenience of b'loon-fliers just as much as for motor-cars. More."
"Look 'ere, that's enough of it," says the car-owner harshly. "If the balloon got run over it's yer own fault for letting it go in the road." ”

“ No. 6 is a picture of a five-seated touring aeroplane such as appeals to those who are in the habit of being driven in their Rolls-Royce cars. The pilot is accommodated in a separate little cabin at the rear of the passengers, who have a full and uninterrupted view forward and on both sides of the machine, which is equipped with two 270 horse-power Rolls-Royce motors, giving a comfortable flying speed of eighty to one hundred miles an hour. It is an excellent machine for private touring parties of four. ”

“ The principal engines of British, French, and American design used in the war period and since are briefly described under the four distinct types of aero engine; such notable examples as the Rolls-Royce, Sunbeam, and Napier engines have been given special mention, as they embodied—and still embody—all that is best in aero engine practice. So far, however, little has been said about the development of German aero engine design, apart from the early Daimler and other pioneer makes. ”

“ The fact that N 25’s engine always started instantly on the many occasions when we had to free the flying boat from the clutch of the ice, without the use of naphtha, is a credit which Feucht and Rolls-Royce must share with the petrol. ”

“ In these ships the pilot sits in front, and behind him is the wireless telegraphy operator; in several cases a third seat was fitted to accommodate a passenger or engineer; dual rudder and elevator controls are provided for the pilot and observer.
The engine is mounted aft, driving a four-bladed pusher propeller, with the petrol tanks situated in front feeding the carburettors by gravity. The engines used are Rolls Royce Renaults, although in one instance a 75 horse-power Rolls Royce Hawk engine was fitted, which assisted in making an exceedingly useful ship. ”

“ He poked a pistol in my face and took my purse and my watch. Sir Henry, that man was you."
The magistrate smiled.
"Am I the only big, tall man in the district? Am I the only man with a motor-car?"
"Do you think I couldn't tell a Rolls-Royce when I see it—I, who spend half my life on a car and the other half under it? Who has a Rolls-Royce about here except you?"
"My dear Barker, don't you think that such a modern highwayman as you describe would be more likely to operate outside his own district? How many hundred Rolls-Royces are there in the South of England?" ”

“ The engine arrangements in this ship were totally different to those of No. 9, four 250 horse-power Rolls Royce engines being installed in the following order. Single engines are fitted in both the forward and after cars, each driving two swivelling four-bladed propellers. In the centre car two similar engines are placed transversely, which drive single fixed propellers mounted on steel tube outriggers through suitable gearing. ”

“ Rolls-Royce, seemingly unconscious of the interest of Charteris and our host, who are looking at him covertly as at some zoological specimen, relights his cigar and sits glowering across the road, and silence falls upon the scene—a silence broken at last by the lady in the diamonds, who has resumed her languid pose in the wicker-chair.
"'Orrible people!" she observes, addressing the occupants of the porch generally. "Nice state o' things when you can't even be safe from 'em in yer own 'otel. You don't seem to be able to get away from these low-class people hanywhere—you don't reely!" ”

“ This factor of time was a strong element in the decision to produce a standard American engine, since with the possible exception of the Rolls-Royce there was no engine in Europe of sufficient horsepower and proved reliability to guarantee that it would retain its serviceability for the necessary two years upon which we must reckon. ”

“ They possessed a maximum range of 1,100 miles, a crew of seven, four 350 horse-power Rolls-Royce engines, arranged in pairs, a tractor and a pusher in tandem on either side of the machine, and, as they would be compelled to fly both by night and day, a gun defence system. ”

“ Fitted with a 360 horse-power Rolls-Royce engine, it travels at a speed of 130 miles an hour, and is capable of climbing 10,000 feet in twelve minutes. It has accommodation for two passengers and a pilot, or one passenger with pilot and 200 lbs, of baggage. The machine was designed for business purposes where rapid transit is essential. In all passenger aeroplanes the saloons and cabins are always completely enclosed and well protected with windows, so that it is unnecessary for passengers to wear special clothing, helmets or goggles. ”

“ You have your name and your fortune to make. I too—I shall marry, I suppose, some one"—and she suddenly smiled rather bitterly—"who will give me a Rolls-Royce motor-car." And so they rode on very reasonably. ”

“ The greater variety occurs with the stationary type of engine, which may be sub-divided into those in which the cylinders are arranged vertically in line, and those where the cylinders viewed from the front form a V. Engines typical of the former class are the Beardmore, Green, Mercedes, and Benz, all of which are water-cooled; and of the latter class, Rolls-Royce, Sunbeam, Hispano-Suiza water-cooled, and the Renault and R.A.F. air-cooled. The types of radial engines which have been extensively used are confined to two, these being the air-cooled Anzani and the water-cooled Salmson. ”

“ For certain ones in the Army Air Corps still persisted in advocating liquid cooling, and now, as they began occupying positions of power, they pressed harder than ever, this despite the fact that the brilliant performance of the air-cooled radials had all but driven liquid-cooled in-line engines out of the country. In England, however, where the Bristol air-cooled engines had not attained to the same leadership as had the Pratt and Whitney and Wright radials in America, Rolls Royce had done an outstanding job with a racing-plane engine which they had later developed into a fine pursuit engine. ”

“ But the Iron Age in which we live has been responsible for a further addition to the scholastic aristocracy—the motor expert. A boy who can claim to have driven a Rolls-Royce at fifty miles an hour is accorded a place above the salt by popular acclamation. No one with any claim to social distinction can afford to admit ignorance upon such matters as high-tension magnetos and rotary valves. ”

“ Furthermore, what our planet is to become in time, the moon itself tells us, having cooled, by reason of its small size, more rapidly than we have done. Cold and dead, waterless, vaporless, that little furrowed mass of rock desolately rolls through its slow days, looking with passionless stare at our stormy, ardent earth, full of motion and of suffering. What that mass is, our earth shall become. And progress here will cease with the tides. All these are the commonplaces of popular science. Progress then, as we know it here, is a fact of transient significance. ”

“ Indeed, the Mercedes motor used on Zeppelin, aeroplane, and automobile was the same in fundamentals.
To Americans who are familiar with the difficulties we experienced in the early days of our entrance into the World War in getting quantity production with the Liberty motor, it is evident from the fact that the Germans had three large factories filled with tools, dies, gigs, etc., for quantity production of the Benz, [70] Mercedes, and Maybach engines, that Germany believed that she had control of the air in June, 1914. ”

“ America’s war associates had developed a multiplicity of types of both planes and engines, with much resulting loss of economy both in production and in the training of the fliers to operate them and of the mechanics necessary for their upkeep. Profiting by this mistake, the Air Service of the United States endeavored to simplify types. The primary need was a standardized, high-powered motor that could be produced in quantity. ”

“ Meanwhile, there was another consideration involved in continuing the automotive industry on a stand-by basis with respect to aircraft.
“Automobile prices,” Leighton explained, “demand low-cost volume production, a requirement that is just incompatible with the high-quality, high-precision production required in aircraft. When your automobile breaks down,” he added, quoting the old darky of the ancient wheeze, “why there yo’ is. But when yo’ airplane engine quits, where is yo’?”
And now as we moved on to Buffalo, Leighton gave me a quick preview of the Curtiss Airplane and Motor Company. ”

“ Most of us manufacturers, sold on our own doctrine, had now moved into the design and production of new transport aircraft intended to replace the war-weary war surplus. In United Aircraft, for instance, we had undertaken to expand the power output and increase the dependability of our current commercial engines and had at the same time inaugurated a wholly new engine, a twenty-eight-cylinder Wasp Major with a capacity of 4,360 cubic inches and an initial rating of 3,000 horsepower. ”

“ About 0.55 pint per brake horse-power per hour was the usual fuel consumption necessary to full load running, and the engine was also economical as regards the consumption of lubricating oil, the lubricating system being ‘forced’ for all parts, including the cam-shaft. The shape of these engines was very well suited for work with aircraft, being narrow enough to admit of a stream-line form being obtained, while all the accessories could be so mounted as to produce little or no wind resistance, and very little obstruction to the pilot’s view. ”

“ The production of aviation engines in America had, indeed, been comparatively slight, but in the automobile industry had been developed a vast engine-building capacity. The detail equipment of automobile shops was not entirely suited to aviation engines, but, nevertheless, it furnished the basis for the future successful production of the Liberty engine and the other engines called for by the air program. ”

“ The importance of a supply of British-built engines was realised before the War, it is true, and a competition was held in which a prize of L5,000 was offered for the best British engine, but this awakening was so late that the R.F.C. took the field without a single British power plant. Although Germany woke up equally late to the need for home produced aeroplane engines, the experience gained in building engines for dirigibles sufficed for the production of aeroplane power plants. The Mercedes filled all requirements together with the Benz and the Maybach. ”

“ What about the power plants of the future aircraft? Will the internal-combustion engine continue to reign supreme, or will increasing power demands of the huge planes to come lead to the development of suitable steam-engines? Will the use of petroleum continue to be one of the triumphs of aviation, or will the time come when substitutes may be successfully utilized? ”

“ In addition to their convictions that the United States should develop a good liquid-cooled engine, some men in the Air Forces had always believed that General Motors should become a factor in engine production. Out of this conviction, the time came when General Motors absorbed Allison and put its back into power-plant development. This meant tough competition for the aircraft industry and while we might, by dint of great effort, keep ourselves in the forefront of technological progress, we could not, of course, match the limitless financial resources of “the corporation.” ”

“ The invention of the light motor made aviation possible, and development has synchronized with the evolution of lighter, more powerful and more reliable engines. One of the most difficult problems still confronting us is the production of a cheap, high-powered and reliable engine, but the existence at the end of the war of machines weighing 15 tons indicates the progress achieved, while British engines of 600 horse-power are now in use, and one of 1,000 horse-power will shortly be available. ”