CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AXLES FOR LOCOMOTIVENGINES, CARRIAGES, TRUCKS, OR OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Reed and John Lawrenson Bate, both of
Newton Heath, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AXLES FOR LOCOMOTIVE
Sealed the 14th May 1872, and dated the 16th November 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Reed and John
Lawrenson Bate at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 16th November 1871.
We, JAMES REED and JOHN LAWRENSON BATE, both of Newton
Heath, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AXLES
FOR LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES, CARRIAGES, TRUCKS, OR OTHER VEHICLES," to be as
follows:
-
This Invention relates to the construction of axles (to be used upon
railways, tramways, or common roads,) for locomotive engines, carriages,
wagons, traction engines, and such other vehicles as are usually made

page_text: with the wheels keyed fast upon the axle, and consists in constructing the
axle in two parts, one capable of turning in or upon the other so as to
allow the wheels to have the power of separate and independent
motion to facilitate their passing over or around curves, and obviate the
grinding and straining hitherto caused by the wheels being both keyed.
upon an axle forged in one solid piece.
In carrying out this Invention we make one part of the axle with an
enlargement or socket at the end, and reduce the diameter of the end of
the other part so that it fits into and turns in the former. The enlarged
part has a fixed flange at the end, and a collar on the smaller part fits
into a recess in the larger, so that the face of this collar and the face of
the flange are flush with each other. Into the neck formed between the
collar and the shoulder of the axle we insert a flange (made in two
pieces), and we bolt this to the fixed flange on the outer part, thus
coupling the two parts of the axle together, at the same time that either
part with the wheel keyed thereto is capable of revolving either faster or
slower than the other part as occasion may require.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Reed and John Lawrenson Bate in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th May 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
REED and JOHN LAWRENSON BATE, both of Newton Heath, in the
County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said James Reed and John Lawrenson
Bate, Her special licence that we, the said James Reed and John
Lawrenson Bate, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said James Reed and John Lawrenson Bate, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the

page_text: 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AXLES FOR LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES,
CARRIAGES, TRUCKS, OR OTHER VEHICLES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said James Reed and John Lawrenson Bate, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
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 YE, that we, the said James Reed and John Lawrenson
Bate, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
the axles of locomotives, railway carriages, wagons, and other vehicles
running upon rails to obviate the wear and tear of the periphery or rim
of the wheels and of the journals and axles, and also of the metals or rails
which takes place, owing to the tendency which one wheel has to revolve
faster than the other in passing round a curve, and consists in forming
the axle in two parts, to each of which one of the wheels is affixed
instead of fixing them rigidly upon one axle as heretofore. These two
parts of the axle are capable of revolving independantly of each other,
being connected together by a male and female or socket joint of
peculiar construction, which is secured together by a loose flange divided
into two halves to facilitate its removal.
This arrangement of axle allows the wheels to revolve at different
velocities when passing round a curve, and at the same time permits of
the axle and wheels revolving in unison when running at the same speed
or in a straight line.
In order that this our said Invention may be the more readily seen and
understood we have hereunto annexed a Drawing of an axle suitable for
a locomotive railway carriage, wagon, or other vehicle for running upon
rails, constructed according to our Invention and drawn to a scale of

page_text: about one inch and a half to the foot. Similar letters marked on the
several views are used to indicate similar parts.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal or side view of an axle constructed according
to our Invention, and Fig. 2 is an end sectional view of Fig. 1 through
the line a—b; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of Fig. 1.
A is one portion of the axle which is provided with a female cylindrical
socket B and flange C, and having affixed upon it in the ordinary manner
the wheel D; E is the other portion of the axle being arranged with a male
cylindrical socket G, which corresponds with and enters into the female
socket B, and is free to revolve therein, whilst the collar H projecting
from such male socket fits into a corresponding recess formed in the
face of the flange C. These two portions A and E of the axle, when in
position, are locked together, as illustrated in section in Fig. 3, by means
of the loose flange I, which is secured upon the face of the flange C by
the bolts J, and is divided into two halves, as seen in Fig. 2, in order to
facilitate the disjointing of the axle without necessitating the removal of
the wheel F from off the axle.
It will thus be apparent that the two wheels D and F, and their
respective portions of the axle A and E, are capable of revolving inde-
pendantly of each other owing to the application of the socket joint,
the male portion of which may revolve faster or slower than the female
portion in passing round a curve, whilst the length of such socket joint
ensures perfect steadiness of the axle at all times.
It will be further apparent that there is no action in the socket joint
whilst the two wheels and their respective portions of the axle revolve
in unison, which is always the case when they run at the same speed or
in straight lines. K, K, are two syphon lubricating cups for containing
oil or other lubricating material to lubricate the socket joint, which cups
are provided with screwed caps to prevent the escape of the oil whilst
the axle is revolving.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
our said Invention, together with the best methods with which we are
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be
distinctly understood that we lay no claim to a socket joint applied to the
axle of locomotives, railway carriages, wagons, and vehicles running
upon rails; but what we do claim is the use and application, in con-
junction with a male and female socket joint, of a collar projecting from

page_text: the male socket and working in a corresponding recess formed in the face
of a flange upon the female socket, and to the face of which a loose
flange, divided into two halves is secured, as and for the purposes herein-
before described and illustrated on the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Reed and John Lawrenson
Bate, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-two
Witness,
JOHN G. WILSON,
Patent Agent,
71, Market St.,
JAMES
(L.S.) REED.
JOHN LAWRENSON (L.s.) BATE.
Manchester.