IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC WHEELS FOR VEHICLES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Hodgkins of Warwick Mechanical Engineer for
IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC WHEELS FOR VEHICLES AND
an Invention of
"
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Hodgkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th December 1883.
JOSEPH HODGKINS of Warwick Mechanical Engineer
METALLIC WHEELS FOR VEHICLES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
"
"
IMPROVEMENTS IN
My invention has reference principally to wheels for tramcars and railway
carriages but is also applicable to wheels for other vehicles and to wheels for other
purposes. My invention has for its object principally to facilitate the removal and
renewal of the rim or tyre of the wheel in case of wear or fracture.
In constructing a wheel according to my invention I employ in addition to the
rim or tyre the following parts namely a central boss or bush fixed to the axle and
two circular sheet iron discs fitted at their middles to the boss or bush and at their.
peripheries to the tyre of the wheel. The sheet metal disc which in the finished
wheel constitutes its outerface or outerside is flat or nearly flat while that
constituting the inner face or inner side of the wheel is conical.
These discs or the sides of the wheel are secured at their middle to the boss or
bush by means of rivets or screw bolts and nuts each disc having its own set of
rivets or bolts. The holes in the boss or bush for the rivets or screw bolts are
arranged circularly near the edge of the disc alternate holes receiving the rivets
or screw bolts of one disc and the intermediate holes the rivets or screw bolts of
the other disc. The boss or bush is thinner at those parts in which the holes for
receiving the rivets or screw bolts of the inner or conical disc are situated than at
those parts in which the holes for the rivets or screw bolts of the outer or flat disc
are situated. By this construction of the boss or bush the outer disc can be
removed without disturbing the inner or conical disc.
In putting the parts of the wheel together the inner conical disc is secured to
the boss or bush by rivets or screw bolts passed through the holes in the thin parts

page_text: of the boss and the outer or flat disc is afterwards fixed temporarily in its place.
The partially made wheel is put in a lathe and the edges of the two discs or sides
of the wheel turned to a size suitable for the reception of the rim or tyre. The
outer disc is then removed and the rim or tyre placed in position and the wheel is
completed by rivets or screw bolts connecting the outer or flat disc to the boss and
other rivets or screw bolts connecting the rim or tyre to the margins of the two
discs
By constructing metallic wheels according to my invention the following
advantages are obtained. The rim or tyre can readily be renewed when worn or
fractured and being made separate from the other parts of the wheel may be made
of a different metal for example of steel or chilled cast iron. The rim or tyre is
secured to the discs or sides of the wheel at so many points that there is no risk
of sudden break down by the fracture of the tyre.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Joseph Hodgkins in the Patent Office on the 31st May 1884.
JOSEPH HODGKINS of Warwick, Mechanical Engineer IMPROVEMENTS IN
METALLIC WHEELS FOR VEHICLES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
"
My invention has reference principally to wheels for tramcars and railway
carriages but is also applicable to wheels for other vehicles and to wheels for other
purposes. My invention has for its object principally to facilitate the removal and
renewal of the rim or tyre of the wheel in case of wear or fracture.
In constructing a wheel according to my invention I employ in addition to the
rim or tyre the following parts, namely, a central boss or bush fixed to the axle
and two circular sheet iron discs fitted at their middles to the boss or bush and at
their peripheries to the tyre of the wheel. The sheet metal disc which in the
finished wheel constitutes its outer face or outer side, is flat or nearly flat while
that constituting the inner face or inner side of the wheel is conical.
These discs or the sides of the wheel are secured at their middle to the boss or
bush by means of rivets or screw bolts and nuts, each disc having its own set of
rivets or bolts. The holes in the boss or bush for the rivets or screw bolts are
arranged circularly near the edge of the boss, alternate holes receiving the rivets or
screw bolts of one disc and the intermediate holes the rivets or screw bolts of the
other disc. The boss or bush is thinner at those parts in which the holes for
receiving the rivets or screw bolts of the inner or conical disc are situated, than at
those parts in which the holes for the rivets or screw bolts of the outer or flat disc
are situated. By this construction of the boss or bush the outer disc can be
removed without disturbing the inner or conical disc.
In putting the parts of the wheel together the inner conical disc is first secured
to the boss or bush by rivets or screw bolts passed through the holes in the thin
parts of the boss and the outer or flat disc is afterwards fixed temporarily in its
place. The partially made wheel is put in a lathe and the edges of the two discs
or sides of the wheel turned to a size suitable for the reception of the rim or tyre.
The outer disc is then removed and the rim or tyre placed in position and the
wheel is completed by rivets or screw bolts connecting the outer or flat disc to the
boss and other rivets or screw bolts connecting the rim or tyre to the margins of
the two discs.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in side elevation; Figure 2
in edge view and Figure 3 in section a metallic wheel having a flanged tyre
constructed according to my invention; Figure 4 represents in section a portion of
the said wheel drawn to a larger scale and Figure 5 represents in section and
elevation the boss or bush of the wheel detached drawn to the same scale as
Figure 4.
The section Figure 3 is taken through the thick part of the boss in which part
the hole for fixing the outer or flat disc is made and the section Figure 4 is taken
through the thin part of the boss in which the hole for fixing the inner or conical
disc is made.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of
the Drawing.
a is the axle on which the wheel is fixed; b, c is the boss or bush of the wheel;
d, e are the two circular sheet iron discs and f is the tyre or rim. The disc d
constituting the outer face or outer side of the wheel is flat or nearly flat while the
disc e constituting the inner face or inner side of the wheel is conical.
construction of the boss is best seen in Figures 4 and 5. The thin parts of
The

page_text: the boss are marked c, c and the thick parts are marked b, b the thick parts b
resembling in figure the leaves of a pinion or toothed wheel. In the thin parts c
of the boss the holes g for receiving the screw bolts or rivets h for fastening the
disc e to the boss are made and in the thick parts 6 of the boss the holes i for
receiving the bolts or rivets k for fastening the other disc d to the boss are made.
It will thus be seen that the two sets of holes g and i are arranged circularly near
the edge of the boss, alternate holes g, g receiving the rivets or screws bolts h, h of
the disc e and the intermediate holes ii the rivets or screw bolts k, k of the other
disc d. Each of the discs d, e constituting the sides of the wheel is in this way
secured at its middle to the boss or bush by its own set of rivets or screw bolts so
that the outer or flat disc d can be removed without disturbing the inner or conical
disc e.
The tyre or rim f is connected to the outer edges or marginal parts of the
two discs d, e by the rivets or screw bolts 1, 7 passed through the tyre and both
discs as seen in the section Figure 3. The manner in which the parts of the wheel
are put together has been hereinbefore explained.
By constructing metallic wheels according to my invention the following
advantages are obtained.
The rim or tyre can readily be renewed when worn or fractured and being made
separate from the other parts of the wheel may be made of a different metal, for
example of steel or chilled cast iron. The rim or tyre is secured to the discs or
sides of the wheel at so many points that there is no risk of sudden break down by
the fracture of the tyre.
My invention may be applied to metallic wheels for vehicles having plain tyres
instead of flanged tyres as represented in the drawing and to wheels for other.
purposes such for example as wheels or pulleys on shafts for driving machinery.
Having now described the nature of my invention and the manner in which the
same is to be performed I wish it to be understood that I claim as my invention
of "Improvements in metallic wheels for vehicles and for other purposes."
First Constructing the said wheels of a separate central boss or bush fixed to
the axle or shaft, of two circular metallic dises, one being flat or nearly flat and the
other conical constituting the sides of the wheel, and of a flanged or plain
rim or tyre, the said metallic discs being connected to the bush and rim or tyre
substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, whereby the removal and renewal of the rim or tyre is much facilitated.
Secondly-Constructing the boss or bush of the wheel substantially as herein
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, whereby each disc
or side of the wheel has its own set of fastening rivets or screw bolts so that the
outer or flat or nearly flat disc can be removed without disturbing the other or
conical disc.
'
In witness whereof I the said Joseph Hodgkins have hereunto set my hand and
seal this twenty ninth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and eighty four.
Witness,
JOHN SALLAWAY
Warwick
JOSEPH HODGKINS (L.S.)