IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AXLES FOR RAILWAY WHEELS
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
OLIVER YORK, of Upper Coleshill Street, Eaton Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of October, in the sixth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Oliver York, Her especial Heenee, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Oliver York, my exors, admors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Oliver York, my exors, admňors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with; and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF AXLES FOR RAILWAY WHEELS;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said John Oliver York, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed; to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had.. will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Oliver York, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):
The first part of my Invention relates to a mode of making hollow axles for
locomotive and railway carriages when employing one or two pieces or plates
of iron, dished or sunk into a tube or cylinder, as is shewn at Figure 2, or
into plates of a hollow or semicircular section, as shewn at Figure 3, and then
welded together, as was described in the Specification of my former Patent,
but in place of applying pieces or hoops at the ends to form the necks as was
then the case, I now cause the ends of the pipe or tube made by the one or
the two bent plates to be forged into necks without such additional parts,
by which means I save much labor, and produce very strong axles for loco-
motive and railway carriages.
Figure 1 shews an axle partly in section, made according to this part of
my Invention, and although I prefer forging or pressing the necks of these
hollow axles by means of the machine hereafter described, yet I do not confine
myself thereto, as the forging may be otherwise performed so long as the axle
is made up of one or two hollow pieces or plates of iron welded together.
The second part of my Invention has for its object another mode of making
hollow axles for locomotive and railway carriages, and consists of welding
together three or more bent plates of iron into a tube or cylinder, as is shewn
at Figure 4, these plates of metal being bent into the proper form, as is shewn.
I bind them at intervals with wire, or apply hoops, so as to hold them together,
and then having obtained a welding heat thereto, I cause the parts to be
welded, by passing between grooved rollers or otherwise; and it is important
here to call attention to the circumstance, that the hollow through the axle,
when composed of three or four bent plates welded together, is not to be less
than one half of the diameter, as I have found that when making hollow axles
of three or four pieces welded into a cylinder or tube they should not be
subjected to repeated hammering more than can possibly be avoided, either in
welding the parts into a cylinder, or in forming the necks at the ends thereof;
and I prefer that the necks should also be hollow, which could not be the case
if the original diameter of the cylinder or tube produced had the metal of
greater thickness than one half of the diameter of the hollow; in addition to
which circumstances, the weight of a hollow axle made of iron of greater
thickness than that above stated, is not advantageous either as to the quantity
of strength thereby obtained or otherwise. And this part of the Invention is
strictly confined, when making hollow axles of three or more pieces welded

page_text: into a cylinder or tube, to the so making such cylinder or tube with the hollow
part thereof at least half or more than half the whole diameter of the axle so
made. The necks of these axles I prefer to forge by means of the machine
hereafter explained, though they may be forged by other means. Figure 1
5 will also represent an axle manufactured according to the second part of the
Invention.
The third part of my Invention has for its object another mode of making
axles for locomotive and other railway carriages.
Figure 5 shews a partly finished axle in section, made according to this part
of my Invention, one end of the axle being finished, and the other end of the
axle shewing the means of making the same. a is the outer tube or cylinder of
iron, made in any suitable manner; and 6 is an inner tube introduced at each
end of the tube a, so as to give strength at the ends and allow of the remainder
of the axle being made of thinner metal. One end of the tube a is to be heated
and pressed on to the inner tube b, and the two are to be raised to a welding
heat, and the neck at that end forged either by the machine hereafter
described or otherwise, the ends of this axle and also the other's being closed
by hammering when the iron is at a welding heat.
The fourth part of my Invention relates to a mode of so forming and fixing
axles of locomotive and other railway carriages, that, in the event of their
breaking near the nave of the wheel (which in the larger number of cases
is the place where axles break), the wheel shall remain fast to the axle, and
consists in so forming the axle and parts used therewith, attached or affixed to
the nave of each wheel, that the wheel may remain combined with the axle.
Figure 6 and Figure 7 shew the ends of two axles, somewhat differing
in shape, yet they are constructed on the same principle, and the shape of the.
part beyond the nave of the wheel may be varied, so long as the part affixed
to the nave be suitable for holding the axle in the event of its breaking; c is
a ring in two pieces, which embraces the axle, yet so as to allow of the axle
not quite to fit it, as is shewn, the object being that the point of bearing at
d, d, of the nave of the wheel, should not be varied, and that the break may
take place there, so that the part c would then retain the broken end and not
come off.
The fifth part of my Invention has for its object a mode of using axles with
or without necks, where an inside or an outside bearing is employed.
Figure 8 shews a section of an axle, and also of the nave of a wheel in
which it is fixed; and it will be seen that the inside bearing is formed with or
affixed on the tube e, which is keyed in the nave of the wheel, and the inner
end of the tube is made bell-mouthed, and the axle fis keyed or affixed in the

page_text: tube e; by this arrangement there will be less liability of the axle breaking
near the inside of the nave of the wheel than heretofore.
Figure 8 shews a similar axle, with an outside neck similarly constructed
to that at Figure 8.
The sixth part of my Invention has for its object a mode of constructing a
machine or press for forging the necks of hollow axles, and this part of my
Invention consists of using dies and pressure for forging the necks of hollow
axles. Figure 9 shews a front view, Figure 10 a plan, and Figure 11 a plan
of the top plate, Figure 12 being a plan of the wheel used for moving the
screw in order to bring the dies together. 9, 9, are four standards or guides
for the guiding the upper and under die; these standards are affixed to the
plate hand to the upper plate i. The plate his supported by four pillars j
the plates h and k being fixed together by screw bolts passing through the
pillars, or by any other convenient means, or the framing may be varied.
The principle on which the machine *
is the being suitably arranged
for having two or more dies suitable for forming the necks of hollow axles,
which can readily be separated and pressed together from time to time. lis
the upper and m the lower die, each carried by a suitable frame, as is sbewn.
The upper die is worked up and down by means of a crank n on a revolving
shaft. The frame of the upper die is connected with the crank by a connecting
rod. The lower part of the frame of the lower die slides through the plate h,
there being a female screw formed or fixed in the interior of the lower part
of the frame in which the male screw o works and raises the lower die, as the
size of the axle is reduced by the pressure of the upper die. p is a wheel
affixed on the end of the screw o to work the same. The dies may have one
. or two shapes formed therein, suitable for forming a neck on a hollow axle.
The Drawing shews the dies to have two hollows each, suitable for receiving
and between them compressing a hollow axle so as to form a neck, the axle
being turned as the dies are separated. The mode of opening and closing the
may be varied.
dies
The seventh part of my Invention relates to a mode of constructing the
cranked axles of locomotive railway carriages, and consists of welding severa
plates or sheets of iron or steel together which have been previously bent o
cast into the cranked form. Figure 12 shews a perspective view of part o
a cranked axle before the parts are welded and forged together. Figure 15
shews a section of the straight part of the axle when to be solid, and
Figure 14 shews a section of the plates or bars when the axle is to be hollow

page_text: Each plate or bar of which the axle is to be composed is to be first cranked,
so that the grain or fibre of the iron may run in the direction indicated by
the arrows and lines, and then the whole is to be welded and forged into
an axle.
The eighth part of my Invention has. for its object another mode of
constructing hollow axles. for locomotive and other railway carriages, and,
consists in affixing the neck into the end of a hollow cylinder, as is
shewn at Figure 15. Each end of the hollow axle is made conical, and the.
stem of the neck is made conical to fit therein, q being a key or cotter passed
through the axis and the stem of the neck, as is shewn, and as the cotter or
key and the hole through which it passes come within the nave of the wheel,
and the nave projects considerably beyond the key or cotter on either side,
the axis will not be injuriously weakened by this mode of fixing, whilst the
arrangement offers a convenient means of changing the necks, and of using
steel necks with iron axles. This part of my Invention is also applicable to
solid axles with a slight alteration in the detail.
The ninth part of my Invention has for its object the making of hollow
axles for locomotive and other railway carriages by applying cast steel for
such purposes, and the means which I prefer for carrying out this part of my
Invention are, to cast a hollow tube or cylinder about four or five feet long
and four to five inches diameter; the thickness of metal being about one
inch to one inch a quarter, according to the size of the axle required, and: I
then, when in a heated state, roll or forge the same into the proper length.
for an axle, and the necks at the ends thereof, which necks I produce by
compressing the ends by means of the machine herein described or by,
other convenient means, and thus I am enabled to manufacture very strong
axles.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means.
I am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein shewn and described,
provided the peculiar character of either part of my Invention be retained.
But what I claim is,-
First, the making of locomotive and railway carriage axles, each of two
hollow plates welded into a tube and the necks forged thereon without adding
thickening pieces, as above explained.
Secondly, I claim the mode of making hollow axles for locomotive and
other railway carriages when using three or more pieces, by causing the hollow
to be of a diameter of a least half the diameter of the axle.
Thirdly, I claim the mode of making hollow axles for locomotive and other

page_text: railway carriages by strengthening the ends by tubular pieces b, as above
described.
Fourthly, I claim the mode of constructing solid or hollow axles in combi-
nation with the part c, as described in respect to Figures 6 and 7.
Fifthly, I claim the mode of constructing solid and hollow axles, and affixing
them to wheels, as described in respect to Figure 8 and Figure 8°.
Sixthly, I claim the combining dies for forging or pressing necks at the
ends of hollow axles, as above described.
Seventhly, I claim the mode of making cranked axles for locomotive railway
engines, as above described.
Eighthly, I claim the mode of making hollow or solid axles with moveable
necks, as above described. And,
Ninthly, I claim the mode of manufacturing hollow axles for locomotive
and other railway carriages by applying cast steel.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Oliver York, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
JOHN OLIVER (L.S.) YORK.
Enrolled the Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-three.