IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Atkinson, of the Steam Wheel and Patent
Arm and Axle Manufactory, Victoria Road, Leeds, in the County of
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
WHEELS."
Sealed the 8th October 1867, and dated the 20th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Atkinson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th April 1867.
I, JOHN ATKINSON, of the Steam Wheel and Patent Arm and Axle
Manufactory, Victoria Road, Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF WHEELS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of wheels.
I form in the wooden rim or felloes of the wheel a groove or grooves running
around it, and the tyre iron I employ has on the inside surface projections corre-
sponding with these grooves; it is welded up into a hoop with the projections
on the inner side. The tyre is made of such a size as when hot just to pass
on to the wheel, and as it contracts the projections on the tyre engage with the
grooves on the periphery of the felloes, and the tyre is thus secured without

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Atkinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ATKINSON, of the Steam Wheel and Patent Arm and Axle Manufactory,
Victoria Road, Leeds, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Atkinson, Her special licence that the said John Atkinson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Atkinson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Atkinson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 Atkinson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of wheels.
I form in the wooden rim or felloes of the wheel a groove or grooves running
around it, and the tyre iron I employ has on the inside surface projections
corresponding with these grooves; it is welded up into a hoop with the pro-
jections on the inner side. The tyre is made of such a size as when hot just
to pass on to the wheel, and as it contracts the projections on the tyre engage

page_text: with the grooves on the periphery of the felloes, and the tyre is thus secured
without the necessity of using bolts or rivets. Lugs are applied across the
inner surface of the tyre further to secure it.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the manner in which I
prefer to conduct the manufacture.
I employ to form the tyres with small ribs on one side of it by preferenco
thus, or thus I weld it up into a tyre in the usual way,
except that I make a rib across the tyre transversely of the same height as
the other ribs at the place where the weld comes; this rib or lug both
strengthens the weld and also forms a stop to hold the tyre. A similar lug
may be welded to the tyre on the opposite side of the hoop, but I do not
consider that this is necessary. The ribs in the tyre should for wheels of
ordinary sizes be about one-eighth of an inch deep. The wheel is built up in
the usual way, and of a size that the tyre when heated will just pass on to it.
In the wooden rim or felloes a groove or grooves are turned to correspond with
the rib or ribs of the tyre, and a transverse notch or notches is or are cut to
receive the lug or lugs. The tyre is then heated, placed around the wheel
and shrunk on to it in the usual manner; it thus becomes firmly secured and
bolts or rivets are unnecessary.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Atkinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JOHN ATKINSON.
(L.S.)