IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY WHEELS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY WHEELS." A communication from abroad
by Anson Atwood, of Brooklyn, in the County of Kings, and State of New
York, and Augustus D. Shepard, of Westfield, in the County of Union, and
State of New Jersey, both in the United States of America.
Sealed the 9th June 1876, and dated the 19th April 1876.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th April 1876.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY WHEELS."
A communication from abroad by Anson Atwood, of Brooklyn, in the County
of Kings, and State of New York, and Augustus D. Shepard, of Westfield, in the
County of Union, and State of New Jersey, both in the United States of America.
This Invention has for its object an improvement in the mode of attaching steel
or iron tires to the body or central portion of railway wheels, dispensing with the
use of bolts or rivets and the shrinking of the tire upon the central portion or body
of the wheel, both of which methods are objectionable on account of the rigidity of
the connection and direct continuity of metallic contact from tread to axle.
The Invention consists in holding in its place a tire upon central portion or body
of the wheel by packing a fibrous material into a cavity formed by the inner
surface of the tire and the outer surface of the rim of the body of the wheel without
making metallic connection in the line of force of the blows, that is, radially, and
the providing a suitable device to prevent the turning or sliding of the tire upon the
central portion or body, and also by the same device preventing the tire in the
event of its breaking from coming off.
The Invention also consists in providing a suitable packing, one that will not
become hard and rigid; for that purpose I use hemp, cotton, or other fibrous
material, preferably spun into rope of one strand of about one-half of an inch in
diameter, moistened with glycerine, about one pound of glycerine to two of hemp
or other fibre. This packing breaks the metallic connection between the tire and
the body of the wheel, and it, so to speak, takes up or absorbs the blow, lessening
FD

page_text: the rapid injury to the rails and the constant jar, and annulling in a great measure
the rattle and noise in the carriages.
I am aware that various attempts have been made to construct railway wheels
having leather, rubber, felt, cotton, and wool placed between the tire and the body
of the wheel to form a cushion; this kind of packing, as well as the tire on the
wheel, has been held to its place on the central portion of the wheel by a binding
ring and bolts or rivets. The present Invention consists in holding the tire to its
place upon the body of the wheel by means of the packing, dispensing with
a binding ring and bolts, bolts alone, rivets, or other similar fastenings.
According to this Invention I make two, three, or more cavities in the inner
surface of the tire, and in the outer surface of the rim of the wheel, all presenting a
waved line in cross section, into which fibrous packing is forced, interlocking and
securing the tire firmly upon the central portion or body of the wheel.
Figure 2 is a cross section of the central portion or body of the wheel with
tire removed.
Figure 3 represents the back or flange side of the tire.
une
Figure 4 is a cross section of the tire and the rim of the wheel, showing a space
between them for a packing.
Figure 5 is a cross section of the tire (Figure 3) at x, x, which bisects the
socket H.
Figure 6 is a cross section of the tire, Figure 3, at yj, y; Figures 5 and 6 also
show different forms of the inner surface of the tire.
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The wheel is constructed in two principal parts, one of which is composed of the
hub "B," the spokes or plates C," "C" connecting the hub, and the rim "D,"
in which are cavities "E, E, E," forming a corrugated surface, and presenting a
waved line across the rim, as seen in Figures 1, 2, and 4, and the flange F, on which
the pins or lugs G, G, are cast, which together form the central portion or body of
the wheel. The second part is the tire and flange, which is made, with two or
more cavities I, I, in its inner surface, presenting a waved line in cross section, and
forming a corrugated surface, and on the back or flange side of the tire A are the
holes or sockets H, H, for the pins or projections G, G. These holes should be a
little larger than the pins.
The form given to the tire A by the cavities in its inner surface, as shown in
Figure 4, leaves the thickest part of the tire under the central portion of the tread.
Care should be taken in fitting the wheel together; the packing especially should
be done in a thorough manner. In the first place the boss outside of the pins G, G,
on the flange F should be turned off to make a perfect fit with the tire, forming
what is called a lead joint, and rendering it water-tight. When the tire is laid upon
the flange F the pins G, G, will enter the holes or sockets H, H, which are made a
little larger than the pins, so that they should not touch. When the tire is placed
on and fitted to the body of the wheel there should be an opening of about one
fourth of an inch at L, Figure 4, between the tire A and the rim D, through which
the packing is to be done. A space is left between the tire A. and the rim D,
forming an annular chamber K, Figure 4, which is larger within than at its orifice L,
as seen in Figure 4, and this chamber K is packed with hemp, cotton, or other
fibrous material, forming a cushion sustaining the whole weight of the load upon
the wheel. This packing, which fills the cavities I, I, in the tire A, and the cavities
E, E, in the rim D interlocks and secures the tire to the body of the wheel without
the necessity of using bolts or other fastenings, thus doing away with all metallic
connection between the tire and the body of the wheel in the line of force of the
blows, the pins or projections G, G, serving the purposes simply of preventing the

page_text: tire from turning or sliding around upon the central portion or body of the wheel,
or in case of fracture from flying off.
The hemp, cotton, or other fibrous material (hemp tow will answer if cleaned)
moistened with glycerine, as stated above, is to be inserted into the chamber Kone
strand after another, each being consolidated by packing, using mallets and caulking
tools, filling the chamber K piece by piece, and driving each one down as long as
any can be forced into the aperture. After the chamber K is perfectly fitted with
the packing the narrow space L, through which the packing has been done, should
be filled with lead or other soft metal to make it water-tight. The edge of the tire
is then to be turned off, and the dovetailed groove N cut into the rim D, into which
groove the ring M is to be shrunk. The office of this ring is to prevent the packing
from coming out, and to keep it dry. This ring should be turned off to give it
finish. The tread of the tire should be turned true, and the hub of the wheel bored
out at the same time. The packing when prepared with glycerine, which does not
evaporate, and is free from glutinous matter, does not become hard and rigid.
Instead of using some fibrous material, such as hemp as a packing in the annular
chamber K, some soft metal such as lead might be used, or paper pulp pressed in
by hydraulic pressure; any such material when used in a continuous circle to fill a
cavity like the chamber K so formed as regards its walls that the packing inter-
locks or secures the tire upon the central portion or body of the wheel would be
substantially the present Invention, but no claim is made for a packing between the
tire and central portion of the wheel for the purpose of forming what is called an
elastic cushion. According to this Invention the packing is made use of for the
purpose of firmly interlocking and securing a tire to the body of a railway wheel,
preventing, if possible, any movement of the tire, and one of the purposes in forming
corrugated surfaces on the tire and rim as described is to obtain the largest bearing
surface practically possible for the packing.
The corrugated surfaces in the inner surface of the tire and outer surface of the
rim of the wheel may be made zig-zag, presenting angles more or less obtuse, as the
chamber formed by such surfaces can be packed with facility, interlocking and holding
the tire upon the central portion or body of the wheel.
As nearly all the wear is upon the tire A it is evident that a worn or injured tire
may be replaced by burning out or otherwise removing the packing, and fitting a
new tire, thus saving the expense of a new centre which would not necessarily be
injured.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of performing
the same,
I declare that what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent
is,―
1st. A steel or iron tire for a railway wheel having its inner surface corrugated
and presenting a waved line in cross section, substantially as described:
2nd. A body for a railway wheel, the outer surface of the rim of which is cor-
rugated, presenting a waved line in cross section, substantially as described.
3rd. A body for a railway wheel having on its rim a flange F, in combination
with the pins or projections G, C, substantially as described.
4th. The combination of a steel or iron tire having corrugations on its inner
surface, with a rim of the central portion or body of the wheel having corrugations
on its outer surface, forming a chamber between them, substantially as described.
5th. A fibrous packing for a railway wheel treated with glycerine or its equiva-
lents, substantially as described.
6th. A packing of hemp or other fibrous material used as an interlocking packing
between the corrugated surfaces of the tire and the body of the wheel, substantially
as described.
7th. A filling of lead or other soft metal in the annular chamber formed by the
corrugated surfaces of the tire and the rim of a railway wheel, for the purpose of
interlocking, securing, and holding the tire upon the central portion or body of the
wheel, as described.

page_text: 8th. A wrought-iron ring shrunk upon and into a dovetail groove formed upon
the central portion or body of the wheel, substantially as described.
9th. A railway wheel having the tire secured to or held upon the central portion
or body by a packing of some fibrous material between the tire and the body, sub-
stantially as described.
10th. The combination of a tire having its inner surface corrugated with a wheel
body having the outer surface of the rim corrugated, both presenting a waved line
section in combination with an interlocking fibrous packing material for the
purpose of holding the tire upon the central portion or wheel body, substantially
as described.
11th. A railway wheel having the tire with its inner surface corrugated, and the
central portion or wheel body, whose rim has its outer surface corrugated, both
presenting a waved line in cross section, forming an annular chamber between the
tire and the rim, which chamber is filled with a packing of hemp or other fibrous
material, interlocking and securing the tire to the central portion or body of the
wheel, in combination with the pins G, G, and sockets H, H, substantially as
described.
12th. A railway wheel composed of a central portion or body and of a steel or
iron tire, the greatest diameter of the rim of the former being a little less the
smallest internal diameter of the latter, with the chamber between packed as
described, viz., a wheel in which the blows on the tread of the tire will be trans-
mitted through the fibrous packing material, instead of through a connection of
metal between the tire and the body, substantially as described.
13th. A railway wheel composed of the following parts:-1st, a steel or iron tire,
with its inner surface corrugated, presenting a waved line in cross section; 2nd, a
wheel body with its corrugated rim presenting a waved line in cross section; 3rd, a
flange on the wheel body with pins or projections, which prevent the turning or sliding
of the tire upon the central portion or wheel body; 4th, a fibrous packing, which inter-
locks and secures the tire upon the body of the wheel; 5th, a wrought-iron ring to
form a tight joint over the packing, all substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)