Rolls-Royce 20 hp (1905)
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The Rolls-Royce 20 hp was one of four car models to be produced as a result of an agreement of 23 December 1904 between
Charles Rolls Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident wit ...
and
Henry Royce Sir Frederick Henry Royce, 1st Baronet, (27 March 1863 – 22 April 1933) was an English engineer famous for his designs of car and aeroplane engines with a reputation for reliability and longevity. With Charles Rolls (1877–1910) and Claude ...
. Badged as a Rolls-Royce, the 20 hp was produced during 1905 and 1906 by Royce's company, Royce Ltd. at its factory in Cooke Street, Hulme,
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. It was sold exclusively by Rolls' motor dealership, C.S.Rolls & Co., at a price of GBP650.In chassis only form. The 20 hp was exhibited at the Paris Salon in December 1904, along with the 10 hp, 15 hp and engine for the 30 hp models. The engine was made of two separately cast two-cylinder units which were common with the two-cylinder 10 hp and
six-cylinder The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balan ...
30 hp types sharing their bore of and stroke of . It is
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and of 4118 cc capacity with overhead inlet and side exhaust valves Early cars had a high-tension ignition system using pre-charged accumulators, a
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and a coil ignition system; on later cars this was supplemented by a
magneto A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...
which could be used as an alternative. As the lighting supplied uses oil for the side and tail and acetylene for the headlights, there is no other drain on the accumulators, which need to be recharged between outings. The power output is at 1000 rpm.Rolls-Royce Motor Cars website http://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com The engine speed is controlled by a
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that can be over-ridden by the pedal-controlled accelerator. A three-speed gearbox was fitted at first, later changed to four-speed with the introduction of the Light 20 and subsequently fitted to all cars, connected to the engine via a short shaft and a leather-lined cone clutch was used. On the four-speed type, third gear is direct and fourth speed an overdrive ratio. Two of the cars ran in the 1905
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TT race and one driven by Percy Northey came second overall, the other driven by C.S. Rolls failed to finish after gearbox problems. Rolls tried again in 1906 and won. In December 1906 he took a car to the United States and won a race at Yonkers. The first cars had a chassis length of but following the special lightweight cars made for the TT Race a shorter version became available. These would become known as the Heavy 20 and Light 20. The track on the Light 20 was also narrower at compared with the Heavy 20's . Rolls-Royce did not provide the coachwork. Instead, the cars were sold in chassis form for the customer to arrange his own body supplier. Both closed and open cars were made. The Light 20 has a top speed of ( on the TT versions) and the Heavy 20 . This speed would be reduced if a heavy body was fitted. There is a transmission brake operating on a drum fitted behind the gearbox operated by foot pedal and internal expanding drum brakes on the back axle operated by the handbrake lever. Suspension is by semi-elliptic leaf springs on both front and rear axles with an additional crossways helper spring on the rear.
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type wheels with wooden spokes were fitted. Forty chassis were produced between 1905 and 1906. Three cars, chassis numbers 26350, 40509 and 40520 are known to survive.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolls-Royce 20 Hp (1905) 20 hp Cars introduced in 1905 Brass Era vehicles