IMPROVEMENTS IN MUR MANURACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON WHEELS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Lockie, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MUR MANURACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON WHEELS."
Sealed the 22nd April 1862, and dated the 2nd November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Lockie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
November 1861.
I, THOMAS LOCKIE, of Glasgow, in the County of. Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT IRON WHEELS," to be as follows, that
is to say:
This Invention of improvements in the manufacture of wrought-iron wheels
has for object increased solidity of construction and economy in the process
whereby it is obtained; and the Invention relates more particularly to the
uniting of the inner ends or heads of the spokes of wrought-iron wheels and
the forming of the boss, and in practising the same according to one modifi-
cation. The heads of the spokes are shaped of the usual segmental form in
face view, but they are formed of the full depth of the boss, and the middle
portion is, as it were, removed so as to impart a fork-shape in side view.
Instead of the two external rings or washers usually welded upon the outsides
of the spoke heads a single ring or washer is used, which occupies the fork

page_text: spaces formed in the spoke heads. The spokes being arranged upon this
central ring the parts may be welded together at a single heat, the spokes
being thereby united to each other and to the central ring, and thus forming a
solid boss. The central ring is by preference formed with a recess or hollow on
one or on both faces, and the welding action forces the corresponding parts of
the spoke heads into the same, and the parts are thereby firmly locked together.
In some cases an inclination or graduation may be given to the sides of the
spoke heads, so that in welding the pressure may act more effectively on the
junction surfaces between the spokes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Lockie in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd May 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
LOCKIE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Lockie, Her special licence that 1, the said Thomas Lockie,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Lockie, 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 THE
MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON WHEELS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Lockie, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Lockie, 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

page_text: statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention of improvements in the manufacture of wrought-iron
wheels has for object increased solidity of construction and economy in the
process whereby it is obtained.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood and
carried into effect, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of explanatory
Drawings, to which I shall refer in particularly describing my improvements,
as follows:-
Figure 4,
My Invention relates more particularly to the uniting of the inner ends or
heads of the spokes of wrought-iron wheels and the forming of the boss; and
in practising the same. According to one modification the heads A, Figures 1
and 2, of the spokes B, are shaped of the usual segmental form in face view,
(Figure 1) but they are formed of the full depth of the boss, and the middle
portion C is, as it were, removed so as to impart a fork-shape in side view, as
shown in Figure 2. Instead of the two external rings or washers usually
welded upon the outsides of the spoke heads, there is used a single ring
or washer D, shown in face view in Figure 3 and in section in
and this ring D occupies the fork spaces C in the spoke heads A. Figure 5
is a section and Figure 6 is a face view partly in section showing the series of
spokes B arranged with their heads A upon the central ring D. The parts
being thus arranged are hooped together and submitted to a single welding
heat, which is sufficient to cause the spokes B to be united to each other and
to the central ring D, thus forming a solid boss. The central ring D is by
preference formed with a recess or hollow d on one or on both faces, as shown
in the Figures, and the boss being compressed between dies when at the
welding heat the corresponding parts of the spoke heads A are forced into
such hollows d, and the parts are thereby firmly locked together. The dies
are shaped to fit upon and enclose one the upper half and the other the under
half of the boss, and an eye is formed through the centre of each to permit of
a barrel-shaped pin or mandril being forced through the eye or centre of the
boss, whereby the ring D is firmly compressed into the annular channel
formed by the combination of the recesses C in the spoke heads. The ring D
may have a polygonal form instead of a circular one, as shown, the polygonal
form being preferable in the case of wheels with a small number of spokes,
the recesses C in the spoke heads being of course shaped to correspond. In
some cases a helical or other inclination or a graduation may be given to the
sides or radiating junction surfaces of the segmental heads A of the spokes,

page_text: in order that the pressure employed in welding may act more effectively on
such junction surfaces.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to state that
I do not restrict myself to the precise details herein described and delineated,
but that what I consider to be novel and original and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the
forming of wrought-iron wheel spokes, with fork-shaped heads, and the welding
of the same upon a central ring, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Lockie, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
THOMAS LOCKIE. (L.S.)
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square, Glasgow.