Improvements in or relating to Axle-bearings for Rail and Tramway Rolling Stock.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Apr., 1894-Accepted, 16th June, 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Axle-bearings for Rail and
Tramway Rolling Stock.
We, JOHANN KUBAN, Works Foreman, and ALBERT SILBERMANN, Manu-
facturer both of 74 Blumen Strasse, Berlin, Germany, do hereby declare the
nature of our invention and in what manner the same is performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The present invention relates to axles for railway cars, locomotives, tramcars,
and in short for all kinds of cars and trucks constructed to run upon rails, and
consists in a device for enabling the said axles to turn radially, when traversing
curves in the lines and thus avoid to a great extent the friction between wheels
and rails as at present which often causes accidents, owing to the train running
off the lines at curves.
The invention consists in rounding off the ends of the axle journals and
providing the same with horizontally guided spring pressed guides, which admit
of a lateral movement of the ends of the axles in either direction.
And in order to make the present Specification more easily intelligible reference
is had to the accompanying drawings in which similar letters denote similar parts
throughout the several views.
Fig. 1 being a side elevation of an axle mounted according to our invention.
Fig. 2 a plan partially in section,
Fig. 3 a plan to a smaller scale showing the wheels about to pass onto a curve,
Fig. 4 a side elevation of the device as arranged for a tramcar,
Fig.
5 a plan of Fig. 4 and
Fig. 6 a diagrammatic view showing the tendency of the wheels when running
on a curve.
A is the axle and a bare the journals having their ends rounded to a radius
taken from the point of intersection of the axle centre line and the transverse
centre line of the journal. The journal is laterally retained by the horizontally
guided spring pressed guides c c and d d' having pressure springs ƒ ƒ and ƒ¹ƒ¹
and 9 g, g' g respectively resting at their opposite ends against angles e e on the
frame plates of the cars or locomotives RR are the wheels and s s¹ the rails.
The device operates in the following manner :-
When the car traverses a curve the axle is enabled to accommodate itself to the
radius of the said curve, the circumferential speed of the wheel on the inner rail
being equal to that of the outer wheel both wheels being fast on the axle, and the
distance to be travelled by the inner wheel being less than that of the outer wheel,
the former will, it is evident, be retarded by the friction caused between the wheel
and rail; this will have the effect of swinging the outer end of the axle to the radius,
of the curve of the rails, thus compressing the springs f¹ƒ and g g (in the case of
a car running in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 6), and expanding the
springs ff and g¹ g'; as soon as the car leaves the curve the springs will force the
axles into proper positions at right angles to the rails.
It will thus be clear that the danger of cars runuing off the lines will be
reduced to a minimum, with axles mounted in accordance with the present
invention, whilst at the same time the wear and tear of the lines at the curves
and also of the wheels, will be very considerably reduced.
Figs. 4 and 5 show the arrangement of radially self adjusting axles in connection
with a tram car, the said arrangement being substantially the same as that
described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 and requiring no further explanation.

page_text: -
Fig. 6 shows the tendency of the wheels of a rigid axle, when passing a curve,
from which it will be seen that the tremendous friction at n on the inner rail
and m at the outer rail has to be overcome, at the cost of the rails and wheels.
The invention is particularly adapted for tram cars where the curves in the
rails are excessively sharp and the pull on the horses at such point very damaging
for the same.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner it is performed we declare that what we claim is :-
1. An axle having spring guided journals, said axle being self adjusting to the
cradius of the curve to be traversed.
2. An axle journal having spring pressed lateral guides to admit of lateral
play of the said axle substantially as described.
3. The combination of axle journals having their ends rounded as specified and
horizontally guided spring pressed guide pieces to grip the said rounded axle
journal at each end substantially as described.
4. In combination with an axle A, the journals a, b, having rounded ends and
the horizontally guided spring pressed guides c c d d' hollowed out to fit the ends
of the said journals substantially as described.
5. The combination of the axle A, the journals a b, having rounded ends, the
lateral guides c c d d', horizontally guided in the car frame, springs ƒƒ, f¹ƒ',
and g g 9 g¹ to said guides, and supports ee to said springs on the car frame
substantially as described.
Dated this 13th day of April 1894.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicants.