IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR TRACTION ENGINES AND FOR OTHER USES WHERE A CONSIDER- ABLE ÁREA OF REARING SUPRICE TO PEOTIDED
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Coe Burton, of Young's Farm, Lam-
bourne, in the County of Essex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN WHEELS FOR TRACTION ENGINES AND FOR OTHER USES WHERE A CONSIDER-
ABLE ÁREA OF REARING SUPRICE TO PEOTIDED "
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Coe Burton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th January 1874.
I, CHARLES COE BURTON, of Young's Farm, Lambourne, in the County
of Essex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR TRACTION ENGINES AND FOR OTHER USES WHERE
A CONSIDERABLE AREA OF BEARING SURFACE IS REQUIRED," to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in wheels for traction
engines and for other uses where a considerable area of bearing surface
is required.
The wheel consists of a cast-iron boss with an annular cavity within
it, in which a strong hoop spring is lodged. Beyond this cavity radial

page_text: spokes are fixed in the boss, and they carry two fixed hoops or tyres of
1 section, which are connected by cross bars at numerous equidistant
points around the circumference. There is also another series of spokes
which are able to slide radially through holes formed for them in the
boss. Their inner ends abut upon the hoop spring and their outer ends
are formed with eyes.
The bearing surface of the wheel consists of an endless chain of shoes
jointed together by pins passing through eyes on the inner surface of
the shoes, and the same pins pass through the eyes of the movable
spokes.
Each shoe consists of an iron trough of such a width that its side
flanges embrace between them the two fixed 1 iron tyres of the wheel.
At its two ends each shoe is jointed by the pins already mentioned to
the adjacent shoes on either side and to the movable spokes. The pins
pass through eyes formed at the end of angle iron ribs riveted to the
shoe on its inner side. These ribs nearly meet in the centre of the shoe,
leaving room only to receive between them one of the transverse bars
which connect the two fixed tyres. The width of these blocks is such
that they are just able to enter freely between the fixed tyres. When
the pressure of the tread of the wheel comes upon the shoes it is trans-
ferred by the moving spokes to the hoop spring in the boss, and as the
wheel rolls on one shoe is planted flat on the ground before the shoe in
rear of it commences to rise, thus forming a continuous metal surface or
tramway for the two fixed tyres to roll over.
The cavity in the boss which contains the spring is fitted with a cover
and may be filled up with oil; or the cavity can be cast in the boss in
the form of a tube surrounding it, and fitted with plungers working in
stuffing boxes around its outer circumference, one to each of the radial
spokes. The caps or glands of the stuffing boxes have internal shoulders
to stop the plungers at a given distance. These plungers bear upon the
inner ends of the radial spokes. The cavity has a small india-rubber
tube containing air inserted in it, and the remaining space is filled with
water or other liquid. The liquid and air are subjected to hydraulic
pressure, say from five hundred to one thousand pounds per inch, as
may be required, so that the air may serve as a spring to force the
plungers and the movable spokes outwards.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Coe Burton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
COE BURTON, of Young's Farm, Lambourne, in the County of Essex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Coc Burton, Her
special license that I, the said Charles Coe Burton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Coe Burton, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR TRACTION ENGINES AND FOR OTHER
USES WHERE A CONSIDERABLE AREA OF BEARING SURFACE IS REQUIRED," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Coe Burton, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe 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 Charles Coc Burton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in wheels for traction
engines and for other uses where a considerable area of bearing surface
is required.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I bave shewn examples of wheels
constructed according to my Invention,

page_text: Figures 1, 2, and 3, Sheet 1, shew various views of one construction
of wheel. This wheel is more especially applicable as a driving wheel
for traction engines, but may also be used as a running wheel.
Figures 1 and 2 shew vertical sections of the wheel, and Figure 3
shows a plan view of some of the parts.
The boss is
strong hoop
a is a cast-iron boss, which is by preference formed in two parts in the
manner shewn at Figure 2, to be held together by bolts b.
formed with an annular cavity c around it to receive a
spring d. The boss has also standing out from it fixed radial spokes
carrying two concentric tyres or hoops e of T iron, which are connected
together at intervals by cross ties f. 9, 9, are other radial spokes which
at their inner end slide through holes in the boss and abut against the
spring d; is an endless chain of shoes jointed together. Each shoe
carries at its centre a socket k, into which is received the end of one of
the spokes g, and is formed with side flanges, which come outside of the
fixed tyres e.
It has also rivetted to it angle iron ribs l, which come
inside of these fixed tyres, and the ends of these ribs on one shoe are
jointed to the ends of the corresponding ribs on the adjacent shoes, as
shewn. m, m, are cross plates bolted to the ribs 7. These when the
ends of the shoes are pressed inwards towards the centre of the wheel,
as shewn at the lower part of Figure 1, come against the cross ties f,
which tie together the two rigid tyres e, and by this means the endless
chain of shoes is prevented from turning around the fixed tyres. When
the pressure of the tread of the wheel comes upon the shoes it is trans-
ferred by the spokes g to the hoop spring d, as shewn, and thereby as
the wheel rolls on one shoe is planted flat on the ground before the shoo
in front of it commences to rise, thus forming a continuous metal surface
or tramway for the two fixed tyres to roll over.
At Figures 4 and 5 I have shewn a modified form of the wheel above
described. In the wheel shewn in these Figures in place of employing
an endless chain of shoes h, which by means of the central hoop spring d
is kept eccentric with the fixed tyres e, I employ a rigid tyre h, which
is similarly kept eccentric with the fixed tyres of the wheel by the
central hoop spring whenever a load is placed upon the axle.
a is the central
wheel shewn at
Figures 4 and 5 shew vertical sections of the wheel.
boss, which differs but little from the boss of the
Figures 1 and 2; c is the annular cavity around the boss containing the

page_text: In wheels constructed as herein-before described in addition to em-
ploying a central hoop spring d of steel such spring may be supported
by an elastic ring r of vulcanized india-rubber, as shewn at Figure 6,
and in order that such elastic ring may play freely numerous perfora-
tions may be formed in it, or countersunk holes may be formed in the
central boss to give free play to the elastic material when pressure is put.
upon it; or in place of using a hoop spring, together with elastic
material, as shewn at Figure 6 elastic material alone inserted into
cups or recesses in the boss may be used, as shewn at Figure 7. In this
Figure 8, 8, are the cups in the boss; a, a, the elastic material inserted
into them; and t, t, are knobs or buttons on the ends of the spokes g to
bear against the elastic pads d. In this case also perforations are either
formed in the elastic materials, or countersunk holes are formed into the
boss. In place also of springs of steel or vulcanized india-rubber being
carried within the central boss to press outwards the several spokes g
the ends of these spokes may be formed with or bear against plungers
which pass through stuffing boxes into the annular cavity around the
boss, and the annular cavity may be filled partly with water or other
liquid under pressure, and partly with air contained in a small india-
rubber tube, which will then act in a similar manner to the springs d of
steel or vulcanized india-rubber to press outwards the spokes g.
Wheels constructed in a similar manner to that above described may
not only be used as the wheels of traction engines, but also as wheels
for supporting other heavy vehicles. They may also be used as pulleys
to work with endless bands whenever an elastic pressure is required to
be put upon the band.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim as my
improvements in wheels for traction engines and for other uses where a
considerable area of bearing surface is required,-
1. The combined arrangement of a spring d or its equivalent contained t
within a cavity or cavities formed around the boss to press outwards
spokes g, which at their outer ends bear against an endless chain of
shoes or a ring tyre, substantially as and for the purpose herein de-
scribed.
2. The construction of wheels, substantially as herein described and
illustrated in the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Coe Burton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.