AND APPLIANCES FOR SECURING WHEELS TO THEIR AXLES
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Willis at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 26th November 1879.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS
JOHN WILLIS, of Sheffield, in the County of York.
AND APPLIANCES FOR SECURING WHEELS TO THEIR AXLES."
This Invention relates to improvements in the means and appliances for
securing wheels to their axles, and is chiefly applicable to the wheels and axles of
colliery corves, trams, or hutches.
This Invention consists, firstly, in forming the axle taper at that part where the
wheel is fitted to it, the small diameter of the tapered axle being at or towards
the end thereof, and in the employment therewith of a ring or bush with an
internal or internal and external taper. The tapered or coned ring is inserted
between the boss of the wheel and the axle. The tapered part of the axle may be
swaged down or set down below the main body of the said axle, so that the wheel
may be forced on to the axle against the main body thereof, by which it will be
prevented from moving inwards. The wheel boss may be fitted with a set screw
or screws, or with a transverse cotter, or be secured from working off the axle by
any ordinary means and appliances. The coned ring aforesaid may be in two or
more parts instead of being solid as indicated above, or it may be in one piece, but
having a longitudinal slit or slot therein, into which slit or slot a key or cotter
may be inserted, which would be secured in or at the back of a collar, or be secured
in the raised part of the axle.
As a modification the coned or tapered ring or bush may have a projection on
the internal or internal and external edge of the thickest end (or outer end) thereof,
and the internal projection would be turned into a recess or circumferential groove
in the axle, the inner projection thus preventing the ring or bush working off the
axle, and the external projection preventing the wheel working off the ring or
bush.
This Invention consists, secondly, in forming the axle (at that part where the
wheel is secured) of a round, octagon, hexagon, square, or other suitable form in
cross section, and in the employment of a key, shaped on its under side (or side
bearing on the axle) to fit exactly the axle, and clip it in a part of its circumference.
The boss of the wheel may or will be enlarged at that part where it will be grooved
or 'slotted to receive the key. In the simplest form I adopt, set screws are

page_text: employed which are screwed through the boss of the wheel and act on the back of
the aforesaid key to tighten the wheel on the axle ; but as a modification thereof a
transverse groove may be made in and around the axle, and the said key be formed
with a corresponding projection which will fit into the said groove and prevent the
key from being drawn off the axle. As a further modification a single or double
wedge may be employed which will be driven into the boss of the wheel at the
back of or upon the key aforesaid, and set screws may be screwed through the
boss of the wheel to tighten the wedge (or wedges) and key.
The key aforesaid may have projections similar to those specified in reference to
the coned ring firstly described and for the same purpose.
The axle will or may be formed with a collar against which the wheel will bear
as in wheels and axles of ordinary construction.