AN IMPROVEMENT ON THE SYSTEM OF VEHICLE WHEELS, TO BE CALLED THE DE CRISTOPORIS CONICAL WHEELS
Year: 1857

page_text: "PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Luigi De Cristoforis.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th October 1857.
I, LUIGI DE CRISTOFORIS, of 67;. Lower- Thames Street, London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT ON THE SYSTEM
OF VEHICLE WHEELS, TO BE CALLED THE DE CRISTOPORIS CONICAL WHEELS," to be as
follows:
Let the wheels be placed under the frame instead of being lateral as usual;...
let their axis form an angle with the plane of the frame instead of being
paralel with it; let their spokes form with their axis an angle, varying..
according to the angle of inclination of the axis of the wheels with the plane...
of the frame; let the axis of the wheel rest with its upper end on a cross bar:
fixed to the plane of the frame under the springs, and with its lower end to a
cross bar that proceeds and 'descends from the frame also under the springs;
let the circumference of the wheels be cut on a plane paralel to the ground;

page_text: and let them have the usual iron hoops if intended for the common roads, or
be furnished with the usual hemmed hoop if destined to run on rails.
This system of conical wheels will be found to be practically much superior
to the common wheels in point both of strength and facility of motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Luigi De Cristoforis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LUIGI
DE CRISTOFORIS, of Milan, Italy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto-
me, the said Luigi De Cristoforis, Her special licence that I, the said
Luigi De Cristoforis, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Luigi De Cristoforis, my 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT ON THE SYSTEM OF VEHICLE WHEELS, TO BE CALLED THE DE
CRISTOFORIS CONICAL WHEELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Luigi De Cristoforis, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their 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 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 Luigi De Cristoforis, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement: -
My Invention applies to the construction and arrangements of wheels for
carriages of any description whatever for common roads, railroads, and tram-
roads. The accompanying Drawing represents sections of wheels at different

page_text: angles arranged according to my Invention, which I will now describe. Each
of the wheels A, A1, A", es. has an axles B lying obliquely to the plane of the
ground G, G, and mounted in bearings C, C, attached to the carriage in such
a manner that each axle is supported on both sides of each wheel. The
spokes D, D, of each wheel lie obliquely to the axis so as to form with the
rim a conical wheel.
I claim therefore as my Invention the construction and arrangements of
wheels of a conical form and inclined to the plane of the ground at an angle
whatever so as to be enabled to use wheels of larger dimension than the
usual with proportionnally less height.
In witness whereof, I, the said Luigi De Cristoforis, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
V. DE TIVOLI.
LUIGI DE CRISTOFORIS. (L.S.)