IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY WHEELS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Pole, of Storey's Gate, in the City of
Westminster, Engineer, and Frederick William Kitson, of Leeds, in the
County of York, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY WHEELS."
Sealed the 2nd May 1856, and dated the 11th January 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Pole and
Frederick William Kitson, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 11th January 1856.
We, WILLIAM POLE, of Storey's Gate, in the City of Westminster, Engineer,
and FREDERICK WILLIAM KITSON, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
RAILWAY WHEELS, to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in an improved method of securing the tyre to the
rim or body of railway wheels. For this purpose, instead of fastening the
tyre to the rim by screw bolts placed in the middle or "tread" (which
is the ordinary plan), we secure it at or near its two edges, viz., by. means of
a dovetail or undercut lap joint at one edge and by screws at the other, or
by screws at the two opposite edges. This arrangement will admit of the
wearing away of the tyre by continued use, without detriment to the fastenings
which secure it to the rim.
When our Invention is applied to wheels having a rim much narrower than
the tyre, we prefer. to pass the connecting screws through projecting snugs
or

page_text: cars, which may be formed on the rim by rolling, forging, welding, or other
suitable means; or, in the absence of such projecting snugs, the screws may be
placed outside the riu, provision being niade for giving them a proper hold
thereon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Pole and Frederick William Kitson in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 10th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
POLE, of Storey's Gate, in the City of Westminster, Engineer, and FREDERICK
WILLIAM KITSON, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said William Pole and Frederick William Kitson, Her special license that
we, the said William Pole and Frederick William Kitson, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, "or such others' as we the said William Pole
and Frederick William Kitson, our 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY WHEELS," upon the condition, amongst others, that
we, the said William Pole and Frederick William: Kitson, by an..instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, ör under the hand and scal of one. of
ús, 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 William Pole, on behalf of myself and
the said Frederick William Kitson, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner-the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being bad to the 'Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):-
Our Invention relates to an improved method of securing the tyre to the rim,
felloe, or body of railway wheels, the object being to permit of the tyre wearing

page_text: way by continued use without detriment to the fastenings: which secure it to
he rim. For this purpose, instead of fastening the tyro to the rim by screw
olts placed in the middle or "tread" (which is. the ordinary plan),. we secure it
t or near its two edges, namely, by means of a dovetail or undercut lap joint
t one edge, and by screws at the other edge, or by. screws at the two
opposite edges.
In the accompanying Drawing we have shewn several modes of apply-
ng the principle of our Invention. Figure 1 is an elevation of a railway.
wheel, shewing the tyre attached according to our improved plan; and Figures
2 to 7 inclusive are sections of the tyre and rim enlarged to full size.
Figures 2*, 8, 4*, and 5* are views of the under side of the rim and tyre,
corresponding to Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. In each Figure, 'T' re-
presents the tyre, and W the rim, felloe, or body of the wheel; and similar
letters refer to similar parts in all the Figures. Figure 2 applies to a
wheel in which the rim is nearly the same breadth as the tyre. The outside
edge of the tyre is held down to the felloe by a dovetail or undercut joint a,
consisting of a projection formed on the felloc, which fits into a recess of similar
sbape in the tyre. The opposite or inner edge of the tyre. is secured to the
felloc by a series of screws b, passing through the felloe and tapped into the
tyre, these screws being placed at intervals round the circumference of the
wheel, as shewn on Figure 1.
When applying our Invention to wheels having a rim or felloe much
narrower than the tyre, we propose to adopt either of the modifications shewn
in Figures 3, 4, or 5. Figure 3 shews the plan we prefer, which is by passing
the securing screws b through snugs or ears c, formed upon the rim or fellow.
and projecting from it to such an extent as may be necessary to bring the
screw near to the edge of the tyre. A portion of.a wheel having the Invention
applied in this manner is shewn in elevation in Figure 18.
The projections or sugs alluded to may be formed upon the felloe by any
known means, such as forging or welding, but we prefer to form them by the
process of rolling, in the following manner :-.We roll the bar intended to form
the rim in the usual way, but with rolls so shaped as to leave a small swell on
each face of the bar near the edge, and at that part of the length where the
snug is to be situated. Figures 8, 9, and 10 shew a portion of the bar in
this stage, d, d, being the swelled parts, above mentioned. We then spread out
this swell into the form of the projection or snug. required, by again passing
the bar while still hot through rolls in the direction shewn by the arrows.
Figures 11 and 12 shew the snug thus formed.. The snug is obtained of suitable
dimensions by properly arranging the size and shape of the swells.d, d, first

page_text: formed on the bar; these swells may be also flattened out into a snug by th
ordinary process of hammering or forging. By using iron thus prepared t
form the rim or felloe of a wheel, the snugs may be made at very trifling cos
and perfectly uniform in shape and position. In making the kind of whee
shewn in Figure 13, the snug c would be formed upon the middle of a ba
f. c, g, which bar when bent would form two half spokes and the include
segment of the rim; but the method of producing the snug above described i
applicable to any other kind of wheel in which the rim or felloe is formed from
rolled bars of iron. If preferred, the projecting snugs may be formed on the
rim at the junction of the spokes h, h, Fig 13, by leaving the angular filling
pieces used in welding the spokes together (commonly called the " glut" piccos,
sufficiently long to project beyond the rim, the projecting part being ther
formed into the proper shape of a snug, so as to allow the fastening screw to
pass through.
In the absence of projecting snugs of the kind above described, the securing
screws b may be placed outside the felloe, as shewn in Figures 4 and 5. In
the former, the head of the screw is made to bear upon the felloe when screwed
home; in the latter, a washer or loose piece of iron e is added to give a better
hold. Either of these plans may be used with advantage in re-tyring old
wheels which have felloes narrower than their tyres. Figure 6 shews a modifi-
cation of the Invention, in which the securing screw 6 is placed in an inclined
position. Figure 7 shews another modification in which no dovetail is used,
both edges of the tyre being secured by screws; and we should explain, that
when we use the term "dovetail," we intend to include any form of undercut
lap joint which has the effect of holding down the tyre to the felloc in a
manner equivalent or corresponding to that of the dovetail; to illustrate
which, we have shewn in the various Figures several different forms calculated
to effect this object. .
Several other minor variations, to which also we make no special claim, aro
likewise shewn in the Drawing. For example, in Figure 3 the securing screw
is tapped into the felloe as well as into the tyre, a method which presents
some advantages. In Figure 2 the hole in the felloe through which the
securing screw passes is shewn as slightly countersunk or coned out on the
side next the tyre, the object of this being to allow the tyre to move or slide
a little upon the felloe without shearing off or damaging the screw. With
the same view also the hole may be "slotted," or made a little oblong in
one direction if desired. And there may be many other modifications in
the method of applying our Invention, which, having explained the general
principle of the same, we consider it unnecessary to indicate more minutely.

page_text: The wheel shown in Figure 1 is a single spoke wheel, that in Figure 13 a
double spoke wheel, these being two common forms which we have chosen for
illustration, but the Invention is equally applicable to other kinds of railway.
wheels.
Ilaving now set forth the nature of our Invention, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent we claim,―
First, securing the tyre to the rim or felloe of railway wheels by the con:-
bined uso of a dovetail, or its equivalent, and a series of screws, as above
described.
Secnod, the application of screws at or near both the edges of the tyre for
securing the same to the rim or felloc, as above described.
Third, forming projecting ears or snugs upon the rim or felloe of rail-
way wheels, by forging, rolling, or any other suitable means, for the purpose
of receiving the screws by which the overlapping edge of the tyre is secured
to the rim.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pole, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord Oue
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
0
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane..
WILLIAM POLE. (L.S.)