IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE WHEELS AND IN MEANS OF RETARDING THEIR MOTION
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marcus Davis, of 5, Lyons Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE WHEELS AND
IN MEANS OF RETARDING THEIR MOTION."
Sealed the 30th September 1858, and dated the 6th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marcus Davis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th May
1858.
I, MARCUS DAVIS, of 5, Lyons Inn, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE
WHEELS, AND IN MEANS OF RETARDING THEIR MOTION," to be as follows; and
consists in constructing carriage wheels to cause them to act as springs, &
thus preserve the carriage, & render it easy :-
I construct the wheel without the usual iron tyre, in its periphery is made
a receptacle of an inverted rounding or semicircular figure, & in the bottom
of this receptacle a groove is made; a ring or band of vulcanised india-rubber,
or composition, or combination of india-rubber, is made to fit into the receptacle
on the periphery of the wheel and into the groove made therein, & thus
form the tyre of the wheel to traverse the road; or a tube of rubber, canvass,
leather or similar material may be used instead of the solid band, and filled
with cork; or cork may be put in the receptacle or groove formed in the
periphery of the wheel and be covered with rubber, canvass, leather, or other

page_text: suitable material, and thus form a tyre; or, a layer of cork may be inserted
in a groove in the periphery, and an iron or steel tyre put on over the cork,
& this tyre may be reduced in substance at intervals so as to give it elasticity.
The felloes are faced with plates of iron or other suitable metal.
Skids for wheels, as above described, I make with a hollow or false bottom
to keep the heat from the rubber or other material. If the plates are made
of bright metal, I make a pair of buffs to compress the sides of the wheel, with
a friction roller to bear on the tyre & polish the plates, by causing the wheel
to revolve rapidly through the buffs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Marcus Davis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARCUS
DAVIS, of 5, Lyons Inn, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 6th day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the 21st year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Marcus Davis,
Her special licence that I, the said Marcus Davis, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others ás I, the said Marcus Davis, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE WHEELS, AND IN MEANS OF
RETARDING THEIR MOTION," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Marcus Davis, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
described and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Marcus Davis, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
-

page_text: The stock and spokes of the wheel may be constructed in the usual manner.
At each end of the felloes a slit or opening is made about inch thick, 2 or 3
inches long, to admit a plate of iron or steel (Figs. 7 & 8), as shewn in Fig. 1.
Holes are then bored through the felloes & the metal plates, so as to fix &
draw the wheel firmly together by means of rivets. Fig. 8 is an end view of
the metal plate. The end of the spokes may be inserted in the felloes in the
usual manner, or slits or openings may be made in the felloes of a suitable
length & depth, & about inch deep. A slit may also be made in the
end of each spoke Fig. 5, & into these slits plates of metal (Fig. 7) may be
inserted & fixed. A piece of metal tube of suitable shape is then firmly
attached to that end of the spoke in which the metal plate is inserted, so as
to form a kind of ferule. In the periphery of the wheel a groove or receptacle
of an inverted rounding or semicircular figure is made, as section Fig. 2, &
in the centre or bottom of the round or semicircular groove a square or
oblong groove is formed (Figs. 2 & 3). A ring or band of caoutchou,
vulcanised or mineralised, or composition or combination of india-rubber or
caoutchou, is made of the form shewn at Fig. 3, which is a cross section of
the felloe of the wheel like Fig. 2, but with the band of caoutchou added and
fitted in its place. The under parts of the band correspond with the grooves
made in the edge or periphery of the wheel, & lie therein by the contractive
property of the caoutchou. The upper part of the band is next &
revolves on the road when the wheel is in use. To strengthen the wheel I
affix cheeks or plates of metal to the sides of the felloes. Or, I make my
improved wheels by turning a groove or channel in the periphery, & I fill
this channel or groove with cork, & over the cork caoutchou is applied to
run on the road; or, the cork may be put into a tube & placed in the said
channel; or, several tubes or rollers of caoutchou may be inserted in a
channel in the wheel to run on the road; or, the channel in the wheel as
herein described may be filled with cork, & over the cork may be driven a
metal tyre. To impart a springy action to such wheels, the metal tyre may
be reduced in substance at intervals by filing across, or otherwise.
For the caoutchou banded wheels, I make a skid hollow or with a double
bottom, with a space between, so as to prevent the part next the caoutchou
from becoming hot. Or, the motion of the wheels can be retarded by attach-
ing a screw or lever to a convenient part of the carriage & to bear or press
on the periphery or caoutchou band of the wheel; the part pressing thereon
being provided with a friction roller so that the wheel may not be injured.
For railroads, I make the wheel of solid wood with a groove in the periphery
for a caoutchouc band to lie in, & with metal cheeks or plates at the sides,

page_text: the inner plate forming the flange of the wheel. The upper portion of the
rubber band may be made flat or concave rather than convex, so as to fit the
surface of the rail.
Although I prefer to make the receptacle or groove in the felloe or rim of
the wheel, & the caoutchou band as herein described, yet I do not confine
myself to the particular figures, as the wheels may be made without the
channel a, Fig. 2, and the projecting lip of the band corresponding thereto
may also be dispensed with, or the receptacle in the wheel and the band may
be made of the shape shewn, Fig. 9, or approximating thereto.
I claim putting the felloes together by edge plates of metal inserted in the
ends of the felloes, the method of affixing the spokes to the felloes by inserting
metal plates as described, the formation of the caoutchou band with a
rounding bottom & lip, or with a rounding bottom or other figures as described,
the iron tyre, the skid pan, & the making of wheels by the several or separate
methods as a whole, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marcus Davis, have hereunto set my.
hand & seal, this Fourteenth day of October 1858.