Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust (Bristol Branch)
Heritage Open Days 2019:
As previously confirmed, the Trust will participate by having an open morning on 21st September. As in previous years, there will be four conducted tours at 0900, 1000, 1100 and 1200. The event has been registered on the Heritage Open Days national website and locally with South Gloucestershire. Advance booking is obligatory and booking arrangements have been set up on Eventbrite, which will open at 0900 on Monday 8th July.
Workshop Activities:
The Fedden single-cylinder sleeve-valve engine has recently been returned to full working order in the workshop. It was built shortly after the war as a demonstrator engine by Sir Roy Fedden, who was responsible for the range of Bristol radial aero engines until his departure from the Engine Division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company during the war.
The single-cylinder engine was used to demonstrate and prove the principle of the sleeve-valve prior to its use in a proposed ‘flat six’ aero engine, intended for use in helicopters and light aircraft. Although expected to be relatively more powerful than equivalent engines in the USA, the project did not proceed.
Assistance to Aerospace Bristol:
The Trust has recently been active in supporting investigative work by Aerospace Bristol on their sectioned Olympus 593 engine from Concorde. For exhibition purposes, the engine was ‘motorised’ to show both low- and high-pressure spools rotating at low speed. Unfortunately, however, the drive to the low-pressure spool has failed, probably at an internal engine component that was specifically designed to fail in an overload situation.
The component in question, as small quillshaft, has been identified and the Trust is in the process of identifying a replacement, which may be obtained from another Olympus 593 engine on display elsewhere.
Heritage Trust
The Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust was formed in 1981 to promote and preserve the history and engineering excellence of Rolls-Royce. There are five branches serving the historical interests of the company.