A Brief History of Rolls-Royce.
Rolls-Royce remains one of the most famous names in engineering throughout the world. Popular among government elites, royalty, and now increasingly among the young and affluent as there has been a near 10-year decline in the average owner’s age from 56 to 40. That is lower than the average age of car buyers overall, which hovers around 52, and younger than the average age of luxury car buyers, too, which is 50, according to Kelley Blue Book. Whatever your age, the Rolls-Royce has become a global marque symbol of success. However, some maybe surprised to learn that the manufactures of ‘the best motor car in the world,’ also produced aero engines which would go on to power the infamous British Spitfires in World War II.
In 2019 the company reached record automotive sales, selling 5,152 cars marking a staggering 25% increase from 2018. 2020, is an entirely different story and the jet engine manufacturing sector has been hit hard. Following the shutdown of air travel, the company laid-off nearly 9,000 personnel, about 17% of its global workforce. The aerospace sector has seen recession before – at least four times- with the greatest impact resulting in a 68 per cent decline between 1968 and 1971. The crisis has not just impacted expectations for engine sales but has fundamentally altered the company’s business model of earning its living on long-term service agreements. This post explores the history, and future of Rolls-Royce in the aerospace sector.
Henry Royce’s early life is the anthesis of what the company today embodies. A man of Cambridgeshire farming stock, and the son of a struggling miller, Royce attend night schools while completing his engineering apprenticeship. After graduation in 1884 he opened his own electrical engineering business in Manchester before designing and building his own car in 1904. His meticulous work ethic attracted the attention of a motorist by the name of Henry Edmunds, whom had good relations with a foreign car importer and insisted the two meet.
That man was Charles Rolls, a socialite entrepreneur who had been selling Panhard’s and wanted something better, specifically his name on an all English car. In 1904 the two met over lunch at the Grand Central Hotel in Manchester, and in a if you build them, I’ll sell them arrangement, Rolls-Royce was born. By the end of that year Rolls-Royce’s were appearing on British roads, marked by the characteristic Spirit of Ecstasy sculpture fastened to the front radiator. The company’s official entry into the elite ethos came in March of 1906 following the launch of the six-cylinder Silver Ghost, which became known as ‘that best car in the world.’ The engine's compression ratio was only 3.2:1, held a 48 brake horsepower at 1,500 rpm, and would deliver 50-mph cruising speeds. The Silver Ghost chassis alone cost £985, close to $5,000 at the time, five or 10 times what the average professional could expect to make in a year. Pricey. But as Henry Royce used to say, “the quality will remain long after the price is forgotten.”
The 1907, the Silver Ghost was declared ‘The Best Car in the World’ after its record-breaking success. Travelling from London to Glasgow 27 times - covering 14,371 consecutive miles - the iconic motor car broke the world record for a non-stop motor run while demonstrating unrivalled reliability and comfort.
Despite astonishing success, Rolls again wanted more and by 1907 his interests had increasingly turned to flying. On numerous occasions he had unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Royce and the other directors to design an aero engine.
The outbreak of World War I in August of 1914 took many by surprise. Much like the public the directors at Rolls-Royce believed that everyone would be home by Christmas, dismissing the concerns of Claude Johnson- whom was then the commercial and managing director- that the bank would withdraw its overdraft facility on which Rolls-Royce depended at that time. As a manufacturer of luxury cars, the company was immediately vulnerable to the basic principles of economies which dictates when income declines so does demand production of luxury goods. Nevertheless, the directors initially decided not to seek government contracts in making aero engines.
However, this position was quickly reversed following requests from the British War Office to develop a new 200 hp (150 kW) air-cooled engine under licence from Renault and after some negation it was decided that that engine would be cooled by water rather than air, as this was the company's area of expertise. In 1915 the company developed its first aero engine, the twelve-cylinder Eagle. The Eagle became the first engine to make a non-stop trans-Atlantic crossing by aeroplane in June 1919. Following the general overarching philosophy, omne trium perfectum- which states that everything perfect comes in threes- the company soon produced the six-cylinder Hawk, the 190 hp Falcon, and the 675 hp Condor. By the end of the First World War the company had provided more than 60 percent of British-built aircraft engines. Despite major success after the war demand for such motors declined, and the company returned to motorcars, but not for long.
Jacques Schneider was a man of great wealth. The son of a French armaments manufacturer he developed a fond love of high-speed boating. In 1908 Schneider met Wilbur Wright, (I’m not sure where Orville was at the party) but none the less one of two brothers was enough to ignite a newfound interest in aviation. Looking to take his love of boating to the skies, Schneider would use his wealth and influence to announced the creation of a new international competition for hydroplanes in 1912. Naturally, the competition was named after himself as La Coupe d’Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider.
Sadly, the technology displayed at the Schneider races trailed the ingenuity of the aircraft industry, however, and there was little real competition. At the time the Italians built the best hydroplanes, and other nations were not too interested in taking them on, even though by 1921 the winning speed was only 118 mph. But as history has taught us, if there is a competition, never count out Americas’ government funding, military rivalry, and public acclaim to pull through.
In the early 1920’s, competitions between the U.S. services had produced a series of outstanding Curtiss racing biplanes. Three years later the American Navy debuted at the Schneider race and took the first and second positions with the Curtiss CR-3 floatplanes, averaging over 177 mph, demonstrating to Europe the rapid strides U.S. aviation had made since World War I. Similar to school yard games, victors were to host the competition the following year, marking it the first time Europeans would face the prospect of competing on the other side of the Atlantic.
Following some technical difficulties, it was not until 1925 that the British and Italians made it Baltimore. Unlike the Americans, who were fully supported by their government, the British Air Ministry took a major step forward and ordered aircraft from two companies for “technical development.” Gloster refined an existing biplane, but at Supermarine a young designer named Reginald J. Mitchell started from scratch. Mitchell soon approached Sir Henry Royce, and so began a partnership between Supermarine and Rolls-Royce.
Rolls-Royce provided assurances that they could supply an engine of at least 1,500 hp, with development up to 1,900 hp, and, most importantly, little or no increase in the frontal area. Supermarine gave Rolls-Royce only six months to produce the power unit and the result was a fully tested "R" engine. The R-engine used high-performance fuels along with superchargers, which pumped additional air into the cylinders to burn more fuel. The collaboration between the Rolls-Royce’s R engine, and the Supermarine S6B plane, designed by R.J. Mitchell, who would go on to design the famous Spitfire of World War II, set a 1931 world speed record of 407 miles per hour (655 miles per hour). The engine also produced 2,783 horsepower on a test stand. The R engine pointed a clear path to the future. But it had a very short operating life and relied on costly and highly specialized fuels. Rolls-Royce now faced the challenge of building engines of similar power that could achieve long life while burning conventional aviation gasoline. The company met this challenge with its great wartime series: the Merlin, which entered development in 1933 and they would go on to build some 160,000 of these engines, in 52 versions by the end of the war.
The Future Unknowns of Flying
June 5, 2020 the company joined the Race to Zero campaign, a new UN-backed initiative that aims to draw net zero commitments from private and state actors in the lead up the COP26 climate conference. The company aims to reach net zero emissions across its operations by 2030 and its wider footprint 20 years later. Transitioning facilities power sources to renewable energy, pioneering closed loop-manufacturing for high value metals, and developing microgrids will, in the short-term, bring the company in line with its own short- term targets. However, the company’s future in the commercial aero world appears bleak. As do many other airplane manufacturers. Just this year, Boeing itself sold the remaining majority of its CRJ regional jet program to Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. What’s more Airbus, the French manufacturer received no new orders for the entire month of May, with their CEO not so subtly threatening to sue anyone who reneges on prior orders.
Globally airlines are retiring old fleet and reducing overall capacity in response to dramatic declines in passenger traffic. When passenger demand return, to normal rates, if ever, it is expected that airlines will increasingly be looking to purchase single isle more efficient fleets. However, without a crystal ball it is unclear if Rolls-Royce will keep looking to the skies in the future.
