IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BOXES OR BUSHES OF CARRIAGE AXLES.
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Grice, of the Firm of Grice and Harrison, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Coachsmith, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BOXES OR BUSHES OF CARRIAGE AXLES.".
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Grice at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd February 1881.
JOHN GRICE, of the Firm of Grice and Harrison, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Coachsmiths. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BOXES OR BUSHES OF
CARRIAGE AXLES."
My Invention has for its object to prevent noise in the working of carriage
axles and their boxes or bushes, and to prevent or reduce the wear of the washers
employed for that purpose.
My said Invention consists in constructing and arranging the parts of the said
boxes or bushes in the following manner :-
I make the axle box with an outer or front collar solid to or in one piece with
the axle box, and I make the inner or back collar of the axle box separate from
the axle box and connect it therewith by screwing it on the inner end of the axle
box.
The front or fixed collar is of such a diameter that it will hold a washer of
much greater breadth than the washers sometimes employed. In putting the axle
box into the nave or stock of the wheel it is inserted from the front or outer side
of the wheel and fixed in its place by screwing the inner separable collar on the
inner end of the axle box.
In order to prevent the escape of the lubricating oil between the screw threads
of the separable collar and the end of the axle box I make a flange in the said
collar, which flange when the collar is screwed home upon the axle box abuts
closely against the end of the axle box and forms a tight junction, which

page_text: prevents the passage of any oil which may have escaped between the screw
threads.
The flange for preventing the escape of oil may be applied to axle boxes where
the separable collar is in front.
The axle box is fixed in its place by a screw nut taking onto the screwed end of
the axle, a broad flange at the base of the said screw nut or a separate collar
bearing against the washer on the fixed collar.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Grice in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th August
:
1881.
JOHN GRICE, of the Firm of Grice and Harrison, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Coachsmiths. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BOXES OR BUSHES OF
CARRIAGE AXLES."
My Invention has for its object to prevent noise in the working of carriage
axles and their boxes or bushes, and to prevent or reduce the wear of the washers
employed for that purpose.
My said Invention consists in constructing and arranging the parts of the said
boxes or bushes in the following manner:-
I make the axle box with an outer or front collar solid to or in one piece with
the axle box, and I make the inner or back collar of the axle box separate from
the axle box and connect it therewith by screwing it on the inner end of the axle
box.
The front or fixed collar is of such a diameter that it will hold a washer of
much greater breadth than the washers sometimes employed. In putting the axle
box into the nave or stock of the wheel it is inserted from the front or outer side
of the wheel and fixed in its place by screwing the inner separable collar on the
inner end of the axle box.
In order to prevent the escape of the lubricating oil between the screw threads
of the separable collar and the end of the axle box I make a flange on the said
collar, which flange when the collar is screwed home upon the axle box abuts
closely against the end of the axle box and forms a tight junction, which
prevents the passage of any oil which may have escaped between the screw
threads.
The flange for preventing the escape of oil may be applied to axle boxes where
the separable collar is in front.
The axle box is fixed in its place by a screw nut taking onto the screwed end
of the axle, a broad flange at the base of the said screw nut, or a separate collar
bearing against the washer, on the fixed collar.
I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the
manner in which my Invention is to be performed.

page_text: Figure 1 represents in side elevation, and Figure 2 in longitudinal section, the
box or bush of a carriage axle constructed according to my Invention in combination
with a portion of a carriage axle. The same letters of reference indicate the same
parts in both Figures.
a is the axle box and 6 the outer or front collar of the same. The said outer or
front collar b has the form represented and is made solid to or in one piece with the
axle box a; c is the separate inner or back collar, which is connected to the axle
box a by screwing it on the inner end of the said box, as illustrated in Figure 2
of the Drawing. The separate inner or back collar c is provided with an internal
flange d, which flange, when the collar c is screwed home upon the axle box, abuts
closely against the end of the axle box and forms a tight junction, which prevents
the passage of any of the lubricating oil which may have escaped between the
screw threads of the said collar. The front or fixed collar b has the diameter
represented and holds the broad washer e, against which the flange of the screw
nut f, which is screwed on the end of the arm g of the axle, bears, as seen in
Figure 2.
In putting the axle box into the nave or stock of the wheel it is inserted from
the front or outer side of the wheel and fixed in its place by screwing the inner
separable collar c on the inner end of the axle box. In connecting the axle box to
the arm g of the axle the said box is placed upon the said arm so that the outer
face of the separable collar c on the said box passes into the hollow collar h on the
axle and abuts against a washer i placed in the said hollow collar h. The screw
nut fis then screwed home upon the screwed end of the axle arm g and fixed by a
cross pin. The cap k is finally screwed into the hollow screw in the outer or front
collar b.
By this construction and combination of parts the working of the carriage axle.
and its box is made noiseless or nearly so, and great reduction in the wear of the
washers is effected.
Figures 3 and 4 represent, partly in longitudinal section and partly in elevation,
a modification of my Invention, in which a collet is used in place of the screw
nut f, Figure 2; Figure 5 represents the collet detached, and Figure 6 represents
an end elevation of the arm of the axle.
In this modification the collet, which replaces the screw nut f, Figure 2, is
marked and has a conical figure externally, and the interior of the fixed front
collar b on the axle box a has a conical or inclined shoulder or seat m for receiving
the said collet 1, the said collet 7 taking a bearing directly against the axle box
instead of against a washer carried by the axle box, as before described. The
conical or inclined collet is prevented from rotating on the axle arm g by the flat
face taking upon a corresponding flat face g² on the arm of the axle (see Figures
and 6). After the collet 7 has been pushed on the axle arm g so as to seat itself
against the inclined shoulder or seat m of the axle box the said collet is secured
in its place by the lock nuts n, p, and a cross pin, as represented. By this
arrangement increased bearing surface for the collet against the axle box is
provided without increasing the diameter of the said box except at the front end
thereof.
The flanged separate collar c, d, may be applied to axle boxes where the separate
collar is screwed in front of the axle box. The flange d of the collar, when the
collar is applied to the front of the axle box, prevents the escape of the lubricating
oil, as described with respect to the separate flanged collar applied to the back of
the axle box.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention,―
First. The improvements in axle boxes or bushes of carriage axles, herein before
described and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings, that
is to say, making the axle box with an outer or front collar b solid to or in one
piece with the axle box, and the combination with the said solid outer or front

page_text: collar b of a separable inner or back collar c, d, for the purposes and substantially
as described and illustrated; also the application of the flanged separable collar c, d,
to the front of the axle box when a separable collar is used, for the purpose herein
before described.
Secondly. The modification, berein before described and illustrated in Figures 3,
4, 5, and 6 of the accompanying Drawings, in which a conical or inclined collet
fixed on the axle arm takes a bearing against a corresponding shaped shoulder or
seat m on the solid outer or front collar 6 of the axle box, for the purpose and
substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Grice, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-one.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
37, Temple Street,
Birmingham.
JOHN GRICE. (L.S.)