Improved Means for Altering the Gauge of Railway Rolling Stock.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 5th July, 1898-Accepted, 3rd Sept., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Altering the Gauge of Railway Rolling Stock.
I, LOUIS PEARCE, of Adelaide Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Architect,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement:
This invention has been designed for the purpose of providing means whereby
the difficulties incidental and relating to the various and different breaks of
railway gauges may be overcome, and so that the same rolling stock may be used
on lines, even though of a different gauge.
By means of my invention rolling stock may be quickly and easily altered for
its transposition on to the altered gauge; that is, that when the train of carriages
arrives at the termination of the railway line of one gauge, the train may sub-
sequently proceed on its journey over the permanent way of another gauge.
By the use of my invention it is clear and obvious that much trouble, time,
and expense, both to passengers and in the transport of merchandise and live
stock, may be saved, especially on main transcontinental lines.
The invention essentially consists in forming a screw thread on or in the axle,
and also forming the corresponding screw in the eye or boss of the wheel. Means
are provided for securely retaining the wheels upon the axles in their correct and
predetermined upon positions, to obtain which result I employ distance collars,
which are usable and interchangeable from one side of the wheel to the other.
When the wheels are travelling on the narrow gauge the collars would be on
the outside of the wheels, and when latter are on the broad gauge the collars
would be upon the inside.
Underneath the carriage floor I suspend, or hang, hinged pawls, whose purpose
is to hold or block the axle from revolving during the time that the wheels are
being screwed outwards or inwards upon the axle. Upon the axle are formed
ratchets, with which these pawls engage.
These pawls are employed so that in the event of the screws being stiff through
any foreign obstruction getting into the grooves thereof the axle will be securely
held. Another duty which these pawls perform is that in the event of the dis-
tance collars becoming beyond what might be termed hand-tight, the pawls would
be used to hold the axle while the wheel would be unscrewed sufficiently so as to
give the necessary amount of relief and so loosen the collar on its face area. I
may use any pitch of screw, or of any section, but by preference I use that of the
V section as having greater retention surface.
The distance collars before referred to are hinged so that they can be taken off
the axle for replacement on the other side of the wheel.
This invention does not necessitate any alteration to the existing designs of
rolling stock.
Further by its use no alteration is needed as regards the arrange-
ment of the brake gear, as the hanging bar, which carries the brake blocks, may
be made to slide along its own ordinary transverse bar.
In order that my invention may be clearly understood, reference may now be
made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate same and in said drawings.

page_text: Figure 1 is a sectional elevation showing the screw formation both upon the
axle and in the eye of the wheel. In this view the distance collars are removed
for clearness sake.
Figure 2 represents an elevation of Figure 1.
In these said figures the wheels are shown on what is termed the "Broad
guage," and sufficient of the railway carriage is illustrated to show relationship
of the parts.
Figures 3 and 4 are views in elevation of the invention as usable on the Standard
and Narrow gauges respectively, XX being the vertical centre line of the railway.
In latter views the use of two distance collars for each wheel is shown.
Figure 5 shows the retention serrations on the axle with operative pawl.
Figure 6 shows detail view of the distance collars and axle.
In these figures A represents the railway axle and in which the screw B is
formed or cut in the ordinary manner as by a lathe. C is the inner and C² the
outer shoulder or collar made one with the axle A. On the inner shoulder C
is formed ratchet shaped serrations as C3 with which the hinged pawl C4 engages
for the purpose herein before referred to and as shown in Figure 5. This pawl is
hinged as at C³ to the bracket C which latter is suitably secured to the under
frame as C7 of the truck or carriage.
D is the distance collar which is made in two pieces and jointed together by the
hinge D and provided with the lugs D³ through which pass the bolts D to screw
up the collar so as to secure it from opening when it acts as the distance piece
between the wheel and the fixed shoulders as C or C³. De represents the clearance
space between the bore of the collar and the screwed axle.
E is the wheel the interior or bore of whose boss is formed with a screw thread
which latter corresponds and fits on to the screw B as formed on the axle A.
F represents portion of an ordinary railway carriage or truck which is provided
with axle boxes as G and brake blocks as J.
The distance collars D would be constructed of the required standard widths
to agree with the difference of the conflicting gauges of the permanent way of
the railway systems which would be travelled over.
The method of using my invention in order that wheels with their axles and
attached carriages may be usable for different gauges of railway lines is as
follows:
The wheels E and axles A are constructed by having screws B formed re-
spectively therein and thereon and fitted up as shown and described. Further in
order to effect the object of this invention it is necessary that a pit be constructed
in such a position that the junction of the two lines of the conflicting gauges would
take place at about a central point of such pit, such pit should be of sufficient
depth to allow head room for the person whose duty it would be to alter the
gauge of the wheels on their axles. Assume that the train of carriages is desired
to be altered from the broad gauge as in Figure 1 to the narrow gauge as shown
in Figure 4. Upon each carriage of the train being run and placed over the
pit by the engine the operator would then release the distance collars D by un-
screwing them at the bolts Ds and then place them so as to hang idly on the axle A,
the carriage would then be moved the distance and in the direction that would
be requisite in order that the wheels E would travel or be screwed on their axle as
A in an inward direction, that is towards each other until such time as they would
arrive against the shoulder C and so assume their narrow gauge position on the
axle A. The distance collars D are thereupon placed and secured on the axle and
at a position outside of the wheels. It may be added that upon the wheels arriving
at their narrow gauge position on the axles they would concurrently arrive on
the narrow gauge of rail.
The method of altering the rolling stock from a narrow to a broader gauge is
obviously a vice-versa operation to that as above described.
It will thus be seen that the engine is the motive agent in altering the rolling
stock as it propels the carriage in either direction so as to effect the transposition
5

page_text: of the wheels either outwards or inwards so as to be usable on the broad or narrow
gauge. The individual carriage retains its unity as regards and with the whole
train during such alteration and is in nowise made separate therefrom.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. In railway axles. The forming of a screw or thread or such like worm-
grooved formation on or in railway axles substantially as and for the purposes
herein set forth and explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. In railway wheels. The forming of a screw or thread or such like worm-
grooved formation on or in the interior of the bore or eye of railway wheels sub-
stantially as and for the purposes herein set forth and explained and as illustrated
in the accompanying drawings.
3. In railway wheels and axles. The use of distance collars as D arranged and
constructed in such a manner that they are interchangeable upon the axle, and for
to occupy the space existing on either side of the wheel, that is between the
boss of the wheel and the fixed shoulder of the axle substantially as and for
the purposes herein set forth and explained and as illustrated in the accompany-
ing drawings.
4. The general arrangement and peculiar construction of an axle formed with a
screw and provided with hinged distance collars as D and with pawls, and ratchet
gear as C to C in combination with a wheel whose bore or eye on its interior is
formed with a screw or thread, the whole working together in one piece sub-
stantially as and for the purposes herein set forth and explained and as illustrated
in the accompanying drawings.
1000
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.