IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR TRAMCARS, LOCOMOTIVES, CARRIAGES, TRUCKS, TRAMS, CONVEYANCES, AND OTHER VEHICLES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Walter Morgan, of Garth, Taffs Well, in the
County of Glamorgan, Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN WHEELS FOR TRAMCARS, LOCOMOTIVES, CARRIAGES, TRUCKS, TRAMS,
CONVEYANCES, AND OTHER VEHICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Walter Morgan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th September 1880.
JOHN WALTER MORGAN, of Garth, Taffs Well, in the County of Glamorgan,
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR TRANCARS, LOCOMOTIVES, CARRIAGES,
TRUCKS, TRAMS, CONVEYANCES, AND OTHER VEHICLES."
I provide a recess or groove in the centre, or a groove or flange at the side or
shoulder of the wheel, around or in its periphery, allowing or forming a space for
the insertion of a fillet or flange, removable at the will of the driver, guard, or other
person in charge, and actuated upon by levers, screws, or wedges, and thereby
enabling the tramcar, locomotive, carriage, truck, tram, conveyance, or other vehicle
to travel on road, rail, roadway, or carriage way with equal facility, and with or .
without brake power, supplied if and when required by such fillet or flange.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Walter Morgan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd
March 1881.
JOHN WALTER MORGAN, of Garth, Taffs Well, in the County of Glamorgan,
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR TRAM CARS, LOCOMOTIVES, CARRIAGES,
TRUCKS, TRAMS, CONVEYANCES, AND OTHER VEHICLES."
I provide a recess or groove in the centre, or a groove or flange at the side or
shoulder of the wheel, around or in its periphery, allowing or forming a space for
the insertion of a fillet or flange, or equivalent thereof, moveable at the will of the
driver, guard, or other person in charge, and actuated upon by levers, screws,
wedges, or equivalent contrivances, which enable the tramcar, locomotivo, carriage,
truck, tram, conveyance, or other vehicle to travel on road, rail, roadway, or carriage
way with equal facility, and with or without brake power, supplied if and when
required by such fillet or flange, or equivalent.-
In order that my said Invention may be more fully understood and carried into
operation reference is made to the accompanying Drawings and to the Figures and
lotters thereon. Similar letters refer to similar parts in the Figures.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of two of-the-wheels-on-one-side-of-a-tram-car-or-other-
vehicle as fitted with my improved moveable flange. a, a, are the wheels, in the
periphery of which grooves are formed, as shewn in section in Fig. 2. Such
grooves however may be formed centrally in the periphery if preferred, or at
any other part of such periphery, provided that sufficient at bearing surface is
left for sustaining the load either on road or rail; b, b, are the moveable flanges.
Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of one pair of wheels and axle. In this Figure the
moveable flanges b, b, are shewn raised to a horizontal position, or thereabouts.
A bar or bars c, c, connected with and attached to the cross bar d (Fig. 2), and
d, d, Fig. 1, actuates such cross bars, and thereby controls the position of the
moveable flanges, as shown in the Drawings. When the flanges are in the position
shewn in Fig. 1 the wheels are kept upon the rails by the contact of such flanges
with the edge of the rail, acting as guides; and when the moveable flanges are
raised by the action of the connections to the position shewn in Fig. 2, the flanges
not being in contact with the rails, the vehicle can be readily moved from the rails
on to a common road. The flanges are fitted to the axle at c, c, as shewn in the
Figures, by suitable clamps, screws, and brasses. Springs are provided at f.f.
which allow of the clongation or contraction of the bars c, c, c, in case of any
obstruction to the flanges while travelling. By the yielding of the springs the
moveable flange is capable of rising over such obstruction, and being replaced in
position after passing the obstruction. Chains may be used instead of the bars c, c,
the driver having full control of the arrangement.
Fig. 3 shews an arrangement (in elevation) which might be used, as I consider,
as an equivalent for the foregoing, whereby the wheels a, a, are made with flat
peripheries, and the wheel a' (a guide wheel simply), is somewhat lower than the
others, fitting into the groove of the rail. When necessary it can be lifted from the
groove by suitable levers or screws, and depressed at will, forming a guide similar
in all respects to the ordinary flanged wheel. The wheel a' may be placed in the
centre or at the side of the conveyance. If at the side, with the use of the ordinary
rail, and same might, if thought desirable, be placed in the centre of the conveyance
with the use of an additional central grooved rail; or two wheels may be fixed on
the same axle either before or behind the leading wheels a, a. In Fig. 3 the wheel
or wheels a¹ can be used as brakes, working against the face or faces of the flat
wheels a, a.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would have it
understood that I do not confine myself to the preciso conformation of parts, as
they may be modified without departing from the essential features of my Inven-
tion;
what I claim and desire to be secured to me by the herein before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The formation of the wheels with a groove in the periphery acting as a
guide for the moveable flange, and also the moveable_flange, substantially as
herein before severally described and shewn on the Drawings, or any mere
modification thereof.
Secondly. The use of the springs f, f, for enabling the flanges to move backward
on meeting obstructions, and return to their places without any attention on the
part of the driver, substantially as herein bofore described.
Thirdly. The general arrangements of the aforesaid improvements, and specially
as regards the fillets, flanges, or equivalents for saine, as herein before set forth and
described, and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Walter Morgan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered
by the abové named John
Walter Morgan, in the
presence of
HARRY COUSINS,
Sol*.,
Cardiff.
JOHN WALTER MORGAN. (L.S.)