IMPROVEMENTS IN AXLES FOR RAIL AND TRAMWAY CARRIAGES AND VEHICLES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathan Randolph Vail, of Brixton, in the County
of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AXLES FOR RAIL AND
TRAMWAY CARRIAGES AND VEHICLES."-A communication from abroad
by James Milton Requa, of the City of New York, in the United
States of America.
Sealed the 18th February 1870, and dated the 28th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathan Randolph Vail
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th October 1869.
I, NATHAN RANDOLPH VAIL, of Brixton, in the County of Surrey,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN AXLES FOR RAIL AND TRAMWAY CARRIAGES AND VEHICLES," to be as
follows:-
These improvements refer to those axles which are divided so that
either wheel may rotate independently of the other, and their object
is to facilitate rail, tramway, and other carriages in passing round
The inward ends of the axles are held in position by a box

page_text: which rotates with the axle, and which may be secured to one of the
inward ends, and allow the other to revolve independently of it, or
may allow both to revolve independently of each other, and which
may be provided with a chamber (having communication with one
or both ends of the axle) containing oil or other lubricating material.
The Invention consists in fitting rings or collars on the inward end
or ends of the divided axles, or in forming the rings upon them by
turning out" the metal, or otherwise making grooves or channels in
the axles. The boxes can be made in pieces secured firmly together
by screws, bolts, or other device, and are so constructed as to admit of
rings or collars being securely placed in them, such rings or collars to
closely fit between the rings or collars at the axles, or to fit in the
grooves or channels formed in the axles. Or the space between the
axles and the boxes can be filled up by pouring a fusible metal into the
boxes after they are in their proper position on the axles, which will
fill up all the space between the grooves or collars in them, and which
when it solidifies will form a bearing in which the axles can rotate in
the boxes, while at the same time the rings and collars will prevent the
ends of the axles either separating or coming nearer together. On one
side of the boxes there may be placed chambers with openings com-
municating to either or both ends of the axles, which when filled
with lubricating material will thoroughly lubricate the bearings on
the axles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Nathan Randolph Vail in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NATHAN
RANDOLPH VAIL, of Brixton, in the County- of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Nathan Randolph Vail, Her special licence
that I, the said Nathan Randolph Vail, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Nathan Randolph Vail, my

page_text: 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 AXLES FOR RAIL AND TRAMWAY CARRIAGES AND VEHICLES,"
(communicated to me from abroad by James Milton Requa, of the City
of New York, in the United States of America,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Nathan Randolph Vail, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of 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 Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Nathan Randolph Vail, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the samo is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hercunto annexed, that is to say :-
These improvements refer to those axles which are divided so that
cither wheel may rotate independently of the other, and their object is
to facilitate rail, tramway, and other carriages passing round curves.
The inward ends of the axles are held in position by a box which rotates
with the axle, and which may be secured to one of the inward ends, and
allow the other to revolve independently of it, or may allow both to
revolve independently of each other, and which may be provided with a
chamber (having communication with one or both ends of the axle).
containing oil or other lubricating material.
The Invention consists in fitting rings or collars on the inward end
or ends of the divided axles, or in forming the rings upon them.by
"turning" out the metal, or otherwise making grooves or channels in
the axles. The boxes can be made in pieces secured firmly together by
screws, bolts, or other device, and are so contructed as to admit of rings
or collars being securely placed in them, such rings or collars to closely
fit between the rings or collars at the axles, or to fit into the grooves.
or channels formed in the axles. Or the space between the axles and
the boxes can be filled up by pouring a fusible metal into the boxes

page_text: after they are in their proper position on the axles, which will fill up
all the spaces between the grooves or collars in them, and which when
it solidifies will form a bearing in which the axles can rotate in the
boxes, while at the same time the rings and collars will prevent the
ends of the axles either separating or coming nearer together. On
one side of the boxes there may be placed chambers with openings
.communicating to either or both ends of the axles, which when filled
with lubricating material will thoroughly lubricate the bearings on
the axles.
The Invention will be well understood by referring to the accom-
panying Drawings and the following detailed description thereof.
Figure 1 is a view of the inner ends of two axles a, b, formed with
grooves or channels c, d, e, f, in them, so that rings or collars g, h, arc
left upon the axles; i, j, are the two picces or halves of the box which
encircle the ends a, b, to keep them in a true axial line; these two
half pieces are secured in place by bolts and nuts k, k, as shown in the
side elevation, Figure 2, and in cross section, Figure 3, to keep the
parts in close connection. The grooves or channels c, d, e, f, are for
the reception of rings 1, l, m, m, of metal or other material; the rings
fit the grooves and prevent lateral play of the axle under all conditions
of action or motion. These rings may be in sections or parts to facilitate
the placing of them in position in the grooves before the half boxes are
secured; they are slightly larger at their outside than the axle, so that
they take into recesses in the box, as shown. It is not absolutely
necessary that rings should be formed to fit the grooves, as the two
half boxes may be secured together in the first place, and the grooves
or channels may have molten metal poured into them from some con-
venient part of the outside of the box. I prefer that ribs or fillets shall
be formed in the inside of the box, and that a space shall be left between
them and the axle, so that the metal when first poured in shall find a
passage between one compartment and the other. I make an oil
reservoir » at one part of the box, and by a series of apertures o, p, I
lead the oil or other lubricant therefrom to one or both of the axles, so
that should it get a motion independent of the other axle it is thoroughly
lubricated during its turning.
In the Drawings I have shown the box as being firmly secured to the
right-hand axle, thereby allowing the left-hand axle to revolve within
one half of the box, but I do not confine myself to fixing the box in this

page_text: manner, as in some cases it may be found advisable to reverse this fixing,
or even to allow both ends to revolve. I place a disc q at the meeting
ends of the two axles so that they do not rub one against the other to
cause unnecessary friction. The reservoir n is provided with a filling
aperture, which is kept closed by a plug or stopper u, and also a hole for
the insertion of any absorbing material, which can be pushed into the
reservoir to check the flow of the oil down the apertures; this hole is
also closed by a stopper s, so that dirt and other foreign matter is com-
pletely excluded. I also form a channel near one end of the box for
the reception of a ring or washer t of leather or other similar matorial
to prevent the escape of oil along the axle. It will be understood
that as the box is firmly secured to the axle b it is compelled to turn
with it, and that the axle a is free to turn in the box as required. In
rounding curves the wheel running upon the outside rail having a
greater distance to travel than the wheel on the inner rail it is necessary
that a separate action should be allowed to each axle to admit of such
travel, and this is fairly accomplished by the Invention above described.
Of course it is not necessary in all cases to turn or otherwise form the
grooves or channels in or on the axles, as before explained, as collars
or rings may be fixed thereon for the same purpose, the object being not
only to give a freedom to turn the one independently of the other, but
also to prevent the axles separating or coming nearer together, so as to
extend or diminish the width of guage. The length of the box gives
sufficient bearing surface to the inner ends of the axles to ensure the
axles being kept rigid and in a straight line as regards the length of
the same. The metal I prefer to use for filling in the grooves or
channels is of a fusible and soft nature, so that should one axle become
fixed and have a tendency to drag the other axle round with it, that
the extra strain which would be thereby given should, so to speak, allow
of the fixed angle tearing itself away and be partially turned to free itself
from the strain.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
Firstly. The construction and employment of a box on the inner ends
of the axles of rail and tramway carriages and vehicles in which rings
or collars are fitted for taking into grooves or channels in or on the
axles, as herein-before described and represented in the Drawings
hereunto annexed.

page_text: Secondly. The employment of fusible metal, which can be poured in
to fill such grooves or channels, in the manner and for the purposes
hercin-before described.
And, thirdly. I claim fitting to or forming rings or collars upon axles
in the manner and for the purposes hercin-before described.
In witness whercof, I, the said Nathan Randolph Vail, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of April One
thousand eight hundred and seventy.