IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in
the County of Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY AND
OTHER WHEELS."-A communication from Hippolite Ulysse Petin and
Jean Marie Gaudet, of Rive de Gier, in the Empire of France, Manu-
facturers.
Sealed the 13th February 1855, and dated the 21st December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st December 1854.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
RAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELS," a communication from Hippolite Ulysse Petin
and Jean Marie Gaudet, of Rive de Gier, in the Empire of France, Manu-
facturers, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of wheels for railway and other
purposes of malleable iron, the wheels being operated upon in a heated state,

page_text: by means of compressing and continued rolling and drawing apparatus. In
making wheels according to this system, a helical coil of malleable iron of a
flat section is taken, and after being raised to a welding heat, this coil is placed
below a steam hammer, of which the acting or hammer face is formed into a
species of die, whilst the anvil beneath is shaped to correspond to the side
contour of a wheel blank. The annular hollow in the upper surface of the
wheel blank is formed by a ring of steel or wrought iron placed upon the wheel
blank, which is passed upon a central mandril fitting in a socket in the anvil.
The hammeris made to act upon the coil of hot iron until it is formed by the
die surfaces into a rough wheel blank, which is finished by a subsequent
process. The wheel blank thus made is less in diameter than the finished
wheel, and the blank is caused to expand and take the finished form by means
of a pair of rolls actuated by suitable gearing. The two rolls are carried by a
strong framing, and have their centres in a vertical line. The lowest roll is
horizontal, but the upper one is inclined on first acting upon the wheel blank,
being gradually brought to a horizontal position as the wheel approaches.com-
pletion. The wheel blank is acted upon by the ends of the rolls, which are
made of a suitable section for the purpose, and during the operation the rolls
are made to recede from the centre of the wheel blank, so as to cause it to
expand or so as to follow its expansion, as caused by their compressing action
upon it.
The wheel blank is placed upon a vertical mandril, and if its support is
stationary, the rolls are made to move towards or away from its centre by
means of a screw acting on a double fork which embraces the roll spindles
between collars formed upon them for the purpose. Or, instead of this, the
support of the wheel blank may be made to approach to or to recede from
the rolls by similar means. The upper roll is carried in bearings, which are
raised or lowered by means of vertical screws. These screws, as well as
that for producing the horizontal movement of the rolls, or of the wheel
support, are worked by suitable gearing from a steam engine or other prime
mover.
Arrangements being made to raise one end of the upper roll more than the
other, so as to give the roll an inclination at starting, which is found better
adapted to produce the desired result. The rolls are actuated in any con-
venient manner, and their rotation causes that of the wheel blank upon its
axis; or the latter may be moved independantly, if desirable. This operation
finishes the wheel; or it may be submitted to two sets of rolls, so as to be partly
manufactured by one set, and finished by a second set of rolls.

page_text: According to another modification of the shaping apparatus, the lower roll
for acting on the under side of the wheel blank rotates in fixed bearings, and
has no longitudinal movement. The upper roll for shaping the upper side of
the wheel blank is also without longitudinal motion, and when raised for the
introduction of the wheel blank, it is kept parallel to the lower roll instead of
being inclined, as in the previous modification.
A pulley is introduced between the two rolls, and serves to shape the tyre or
rim of the wheel, being of a form suitable for this purpose. This pulley is fixed
upon a vertical spindle, carried in a sliding block, which is made to approach to
or recede from the wheel blank, by screw gearing. The support for the wheel
blank is fitted into V slides, and is made to approach to or recede from the
rolls by means of screw gearing. In making the wheel, the blank is placed
upon the support, and a conical mandril is passed through its centre and
cottered to the support, the narrow part of the mandril being downwards, so
as to hold the wheel blank down. At this stage the support is in its nearest
position to the rolls, from which it is made to recede as the rolling operation
goes on, the wheel blank being drawn out as its diameter is increased by the
rolling action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent,bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,give and grant unto me, the said John
Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my
executors,administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 THE MANUFACTURE

page_text: OF RAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELS," communicated to me from Hippolite Ulysse
Petin and Jean Marie Gaudet, of Rive de Gier, in the Empire of France,
Manufacturers, upon. the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings; and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to the manufacture of wheels for railway and
other purposes entirely of malleable iron, and subsequently finishing them in a
suitable rolling mill. In manufacturing wheels according to this Invention,
a round boss A, Fig. 1 (Sheet 1), is first formed by bending or coiling a bar B
(Fig. 1) of a trapezoidal section round a central mandril or cylinder; the
boss so formed is then put into a furnace, where it is heated to the proper
temperature, and afterwards placed on the anvil A¹, Fig. 2. The face of the
anvil corresponds exactly to the form or contour of one side of the wheel. The
metal ring B is placed on the wheel blank, and is struck by the hammer C,
thereby causing the upper side of the blank to assume the.same form as its
under side. The rough wheel or blank is repeatedly heated before the shaping
process is completed. The hammer face C is fixed to any convenient hammer
block, and by a repetition of blows transforms the round blank into the
wheel d,by imparting the proper coutour thereto suitable for rolling, as shewn
in Fig. 2.
The wheel thus roughed out is then again raised to a white heat, and trans-
ferred to the rolling mill, represented in side and end elevation at Figs. 3 and 4.
This rolling mill is composed of two standards A², carrying the pair of rolls
B2, B3, placed one above the other; one of the extremities only of these rolls
is employed for rolling the rough wheel, and their axes should be prolonged
beyond the standards in order to receive the ordinary coupling boxes for con-
necting them to the main actuating gear.
.
The lower one of the rolls B2 works horizontally in bearings fixed to the
standards A. Its working extremity is shaped as at a², to correspond to the
contour of the under side of the wheel, and is terminated by the spindle b³,

page_text: which turns in, and is supported by a fixed bearing, whilst at the same time.it.
is capable of resisting any pressure that may be brought to bear against it.
The upper roller B3 works in the bearings c, c, connected to the extremitics
of the vertical screw spindles F, F1, by the enlargement or swell d' on the
end of the spindles. The working extremity of the upper roller corresponds in
shape to the form of the upper part of the wheel.
In, front of the standards. A2 is firmly fixed a curved or arched support g,
carrying a trunnion h, on which the wheelis placed when it leaves the stamping
or shaping hammer. So soon as the rough wheellis placed upon the trunnion
h, and between the two rolls B2 and B3, the parallel screw. spindles F, F', are
set in motion. These screws are actuated by the bevil wheels D, D¹, fast on
their upper ends. This movement causes the upper roller to ascend or descend,
according to the direction in which the screws are turned. In Fig. 3, the
upper cylinder B³ is shewn in two positions; one of them, in red lines, inclined,
to shew the position of the roller at the commencement of the operation,
and the other in a horizontal position, to shew the termination of .the same.
Although the two bevil wheels D, D¹, on the screws F, F1, are driven at the
same speed, being actuated from the same shaft, it is necessary that the back
end of the cylinder B3 should be raised more than the front or rolling end.
This is effected by giving a rather greater pitch to the screw F' than to the
screw F, and consequently the necessary difference of motion is obtained for
effecting the proper rolling of the wheel, as will be herein-after explained.
The screws F, F¹, receive their motion from the bevil wheels D2, D2, and
these together with other gearing are driven by the small steam engine V, fitted
on to one side of the standards A2.
:
The rolls B2, B3, have shoulders j formed near their middle, and are
embraced between these shoulders by the double forked cross head K. Through
the centre of this cross head works the screw L, which is carried in supports
f, fixed to the standards; on this screw is fixed the worm wheel m, which is
driven by an endless screw on the vertical shaft o, resting in the footstep
bearing.p, and turning at its upper end in the bearing 2.
On the upper part of this shaft is fixed a worm wheel R, which receives its
motion from an endless screw on the shaft T, carried in the supports x, which
receive the whole of the shafts for transmitting motion to the machine, as will
be clearly seen on reference to the Figures 3 and 4 of the Drawings. The two
rollers B2, B3, are moved or caused to slide horizontally and longitudinally in
their bearings, according to the direction in which. the screw L is turned, the
nut in the double fork K being caused to advance.or recede and carry the

page_text: rollers with it in one direction or the other, according to the direction of
rotation of the screw L.
In effecting the operation of rolling and shaping a wheel, the outline of the
wheel is first brought into a rough form by the stamping hammer, in the
manner herein-before described. This rough wheel is then heated to a white
heat, and placed upon the axis or trunnion of the support g. The upper
cylinder B3 of the rolling mill is then raised to the position shewn by the red
lines in Fig. 3 to admit the rough wheel. The steam engine V is then set in
motion, and by means of the gearing imparts a descending motion to the
bearings c, c, and consequently as the cylinder B³ descends, it is made to
press upon the rough wheel. The two rollers B2, B3, are then rotated at an
equal velocity, a rotatory motion as well as a vertical pressure being thereby
brought to bear upon the wheel, which is held between the extremities of
the rollers, as will be seen on reference to Fig. 3. Simultaneously with the
rotatory motion, therollers receive a horizontal longitudinal movement, thereby
effecting the drawing and rolling out of the wheel. By the time the rollers
have assumed their horizontal position, as indicated by the black lines on the
Drawing, they will have completed the wheel.
By changing the form of the ends of the rollers any desired form of wheel
may be obtained. Instead of making the flange of the wheel in one piece
with it, it is proposed in some cases to form the wheel without a flange, as
shewn in Fig. 5, the flange or tyre being fitted on by a subsequent process
in the ordinary manner. This mode of rolling or shaping wheels admits of a
rotatory motion being imparted either to the wheel to be rolled or to the axis
on which it is fixed, corresponding to that of the rollers. Wheels may also
be rolled when the rollers are stationary, that is, without imparting to the
rollers the forward and backward traverse; for this purpose it is merely
requisite to give to the support g which carries the rough wheel a horizontal
backward and forward motion, which allows it to advance and recede as
desired from the extremities of the rollers B and B³. The machinery for
imparting the horizontal traverse to the support g may be applied in various
ways. The horizontal backward and forward movement of the wheel, how-
ever, should follow the developement given to its formation by the pressure of
the upper roller.
In order that the various methods of rolling or shaping wheels may be
properly understood, I have represented an arrangement of fixed rolls on
Sheet 2 of the Drawings. Fig. 6 represents an elevation of the apparatus,
partly in section Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the rolling mill, partly in

page_text: section; Figure S is a sectional plan, taken through the dotted line 1, 2, in
Figure 6, by which the action of the pressing roller will be readily understood;
and Fig. 9 represents another form of rolling mill for rolling a wheel without
a flange. The extremities of the rollers B4, B5, are the parts which actually
roll the wheel, the opposite extremities of these rollers being arranged to
receive the motive power. The upper roller B is moved vertically in a
parallel manner by the screw F, F', the extremities of which are fixed to the
bearings c, c', in which the roller turns. Between the two rollers B' and B5
is fitted the third roller G, which is horizontal, and is carried in the support f,
sliding between the two guides J, fixed to the framing A². The support fis
attached to the extremity of a screw E, the nut K of which is fixed to the
framing. This screw carries a pinion H, which is kept in position by two iron
cross bars n, n', fixed to the guides J; this pinion receives its motion from an
endless screw on the vertical shaft, o. If the shaft o turns either to the right
or to the left, it will cause the screw to advance or recede accordingly, and
with it the roller G, which is fixed to the extremity of the screw, by the inter-
vention of its supports f. The same vertical shaft o communicates a sliding
motion to the support o', which carries the wheel to be rolled. For this
purpose, the shaft o carries a second worm, which drives the worm wheel I
fast on the extremity of the screw spindle M, which is placed horizontally
underneath the platform or bed plate of the machine. This screw works at
it two extremities in the bearings-p and p', and actuates a nut M, fixed to the
under side of the support O', herein-before referred to. As the shaft O turns in
one direction or the other, it causes the support o', which slides between the
guides P, to advance or recede accordingly; and as the rough wheel is fitted
on to this support, by means of a conical mandril R keyed to it, it is made
to advance to or recede from the extremities of the rolls B, B. In this
arrangement the rollers B and B remain stationary, that is to say, they are
not inclined, in order to commence the operation of rolling
In rolling a wheel by this method, the upper cylinder B is raised a certain
height to allow of the entrance of the rough wheel, which has been previously
beaten into something like the desired shape by means of the stamping
hammer, as has already been explained.
The upper roller having been raised, the rough wheel is introduced, having
been heated to the proper temperature, and its centre is allowed to rest upon
the support o', where it is fixed by the conical mandril R, which is kept in
position by means of the key a.
The small steam engine V, on Sheet 1, is then set in motion, which, by

page_text: means of suitable gearing in the upper part of the machine, imparts a parallel
descending motion to the bearings c, c¹, and consequently to the upper
roller B'.
As the lower roller rests firmly in its bearings, a considerable pressure will
thus be exerted on the rough wheel, whilst at the same time a rotatory motion
is imparted to the rollers B* and B5; by means of one common prime mover
the engine V driving the vertical shaft o at the same time that the rolling
and squeezing action is exerted by the roller B. The roller G also exerts a
powerfully compressing force on the rim e¹ of the wheel, so that the exterior
mass which forms the outside of the wheel is compressed in two different
directions, namely, vertically and horizontally, a downward pressure being
exerted upon the wheel by the roller B', and a horizontal one by the roller G.
The support o¹ recedes according as the diameter of the wheel increases. So
soon as the wheel has attained the proper diameter, the engine V, Figure 3, on
(Sheet 1) is stopped, although the rollers B and B are still allowed to rotate,
thereby polishing or smoothing the circumference and surface of the wheel.
A wheel perfectly true and round is thus obtained, and any form may be given
to the circumference by simply changing the rolling wheel G.
Figure 9 represents a wheel in the rolling mill formed without a flange,
the shape of the rollers showing their mode of operation. In all the Figures
on this Sheet of Drawings the wheels are represented as finished.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of the said Invention ; but
what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general construction and arrangement of machinery or apparatus
for making railway and other wheels, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of making the first or preparatory block or
wheel blank, by coiling a bar of iron in a spiral or helical form round a
mandril, as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of forming or shaping the wheel blank without
welding, by means of a metal shaping ring, and large hammer and anvil,
having its face corresponding to the lower contour of the wheel, to be pro-
duced as herein-before described.

page_text: Fourth, the application and use of moveable rollers, actuated by a small
steam engine, for producing the three movements required for pressing down
the upper roller, pushing forward the horizontal roller, and effecting the
horizontal movement of the upper and lower rollers, or of the support carrying
the wheel under process of manufacture, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)