IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY WHEELS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Wilson, of Field Head, Sheffield, in the
County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
WHEELS."
Sealed the 8th February 1870, and dated the 16th December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th December 1869.
I, GEORGE WILSON, of Field Head, Sheffield, in the County of York,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN RAILWAY WHEELS," to be as follows:-.
This Invention has for its object improvements in railway wheels. It
has before been proposed to make railway wheels by welding together a
pile of wrought-iron bars, then forging the bloom so produced into a
circular or disc like form, and afterwards rolling the disc or bloom. The
rolling has been performed between two conical rollers acting on the
sides of the disc or bloom and a third roller acting on its periphery, and

page_text: so it has been brought to the form of a railway wheel, the whole being
in one piece from the boss in the centre to the flange on the periphery.
Such wrought-iron wheels have not come into general use in consequence
of their small durability from the softness of the material of which they
are made.
According to my Invention I cast railway wheels in steel, and work
the metal to the finished form of the wheels, that is to say, in place of
welding a pile of bars together into a bloom, as when iron is used,
I cast as an ingot in one piece the metal requisite to form a wheel. I
forge this metal under a hammer and between swages or dies so as to
produce a disc with a boss in the centre. Around the boss the metal is
reduced nearly to the thickness required for this part in the finished
wheel, and in passing outwards from the boss the thickness of the metal
is increased until at the periphery it is equal or thereabout to the width
of the finished wheel. In this state the hammered ingot is submitted to
the action of rollers as already described in respect to the wrought-iron
wheel, and so the solid cast steel wheel is finished.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WILSON, of Field Head, Sheffield, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS
Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Wilson, Her special licence that
I, the said George Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Dr such others as I, the said George Wilson, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 RAILWAY
WHEELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George

page_text: Wilson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 YF, that I, the said George Wilson, 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 railway wheels. It
has before been proposed to make railway wheels by welding together a
pile of wrought-iron bars, then forging the bloom so produced into a
circular or disc like form, and afterwards rolling the disc or bloom. The
rolling has been performed between two conical rollers acting on the
sides of the disc or bloom and a third roller or rollers acting on its
periphery, and so it has been brought to the form of a railway wheel, the
whole being in one piece from the boss in the centre to the flange on
the periphery. Such wrought-iron wheels have not come into general
use in consequence of their small durability from the softness of the
material of which they are made.
I
According to my Invention I make railway wheels in steel by working
the metal to the finished form of the wheels, that is to say, in place of
welding a pile of bars together into a bloom, as when iron is used,
I cast as an ingot in one piece the metal requisite to form a wheel.
forge this metal under a hammer and between swages or dies so as to
produce a disc with a boss in the centre. Around the boss the metal is
reduced nearly to the thickness required for this part in the finished
wheel, and in passing outwards from the boss the thickness of the metal
is increased until at the periphery it is equal or thereabout to the width
of the finished wheel, or the ingot might be cast to this shape. In this
state the hammered ingot is submitted to the action of the rollers as
already described in respect to the wrought-iron wheel, and so the solid
cast steel wheel is finished.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention I will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
In carrying out my Invention I prefer to proceed as follows:-I cast
as an ingot in one piece, such as shown in Figure 1, the steel required to

page_text: form a wheel. The class of steel I prefer to employ is Bessemer steel, or
the steel known as homogeneous metal; or I cut from an ingot of steel
sufficient metal to make a wheel. I forge this piece under a hammer or
press or other suitable tool between swage or dies so as to produce a
disc with a boss in the centre, as shown at Figure 3. These ingots are
then submitted to the action of coned, tapered, or bevilled rollers acting
on their sides, and one or more rollers acting on their peripheries, as
herein-before described, until they have been brought into the form of a
railway wheel, the whole being in one piece from the boss or nave in
the centre to the flange or tyre. These wheels may be thus rolled plain
or flat in the disc, as shown at D, Figure 4, or they may be shaped in a
variety of ways, for example, as shown at E, Figure 4.
The rolling machine I prefer to employ is such as is described in
the Specification of a Patent granted to Benjamin Walker and John
Frederick Augustus Pflaum, on the 21st day of August 1868, No. 2610.
I may also, if I prefer, dispense with the forging or hammering of the
ingots by casting them directly into the form shown at Figure 3, or it
might be into a plain ingot, such as shown at Figure 1, or into other
suitable shape, such as shown at Figure 2, and then rolling such ingot
into a railway wheel as described. The wheels may also be hammered
and rolled and finished in one piece without the tyres, as shown at
Figure 5, and the tyres may be afterwards applied to them..
I claim the manufacture of solid disc railway wheels from cast ingots
of steel, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Wilson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
GEO. WILSON. (L.S))