IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BEARINGS OF RAIL- WAY ENGINES AND RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES NOW IN USE
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GASPARD BRANDT, late of Little Gray's Inn Lane, in the County of Middle-
sex, but now of South Ville, Wandsworth Road, in the County of Surrey,
Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of April, in the
twelfth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said William
Gaspard Brandt, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial license, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Gaspard Brandt,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Gaspard
Brandt, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BEARINGS OF RAIL-
WAY ENGINES AND RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES NOW IN USE," within that
part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also
in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all
Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, during the term of
fourteen years thence next ensuing, in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, requiring that I, the said William Gaspard Brandt, shall
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Gaspard Brandt, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by this present Specification or instrument in
writing, reference being had to the several Drawings hereunto annexed, and
in which said several Drawings similar parts are marked and referred to by
similar letters or figures, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists of improvements in the construction of the
bearings of locomotive railway engines, and of the bearings as well of railway
carriages as also of other carriages now in ordinary use, such improved
bearings being constructed with antifriction wheels or rollers for sustaining
the bodies or frames of the engines or carriages upon the axles of the wheels
thereof; for the purpose of diminishing the friction produced by the revolution
of such axles within their bearings when the engines or carriages are in motion.
The antifriction wheels or rollers which I use in applying my Invention to the
bearings of ordinary locomotive railway engines and railway carriages, I mount
in the axle boxes or steps of such engines and carriages, and such antifriction
wheels or rollers are to be used in lieu of the ordinary journals or sockets of
the engine or carriage wheels. In Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, of the Drawings
hereunto annexed, I have shewn the manner in which I mount such antifriction
wheels or rollers as aforesaid within the axle boxes of railway engines and car-
riages. Figure 1 exhibits a side view of an axle box, and having antifriction
wheels or rollers mounted therein according to my Invention, the Figure
also shewing a portion of the framework of a railway engine or carriage,
to which the axle box is attached. Figure 2 is also a side view of the
same axle box and portion of framework, the exterior plate of the axle box
being removed so as to exhibit the interior parts of the box, and the position
of the axle of the engine or carriage wheels when placed within the bearing.
Figure 3 contains a side view of the same axle box, from which the anti-
friction wheels or rollers, and also the axle of the engine or carriage wheels
have been removed. Figure 4 also contains a side view of the same axle box,
shewing the manner in which it may be secured against the frame of an engine
or carriage. In each of these Figures, F is part of the framework of an
engine or carriage, having a slot in which the axle box is mounted and moves

page_text: up and down in the ordinary manner. A, A, is the axle box having a slot t
in the inner side of it, as shewn in Figure 3, and partially in Figure 2; and
the outer plate of the box is fixed by screws or bolts, as shewn in Figure 1.
B, B, (Figure 2,) are the antifriction wheels or rollers, which are fixed upon
their axles, and such axles mounted in bearings or bushes drilled or made for
then in the inner and outer sides of the box. These antifriction wheels or
rollers must be mounted within the axle box so that they may rest upon the
axle a of the railway wheel Y, as shewn in Figure 2. A spring is fixed upon
the top of this axle box and attached to the frame of the engine or carriage in
the usual or any other convenient manner. The slot t is made in the inner plate
or side of the axle box for the purpose of admitting the end of the axle x to
be introduced into the interior. of the box, and it is made slightly wider than
the thickness of the axle so as to allow the introduction of the axle with
facility and prevent any friction of the axle against the top or sides of it; this
slot, however, should not be made any larger than may be necessary for pre-
venting friction, in the manner just mentioned, so that if the antifriction wheels,
or either of them, should happen to break, the axle of the engine or carriage
wheel may have a bearing against the top or slide of the slot. The top of the
slot should be made semicircular, as shewn in Figure 3. S, S, (Figure 4,) are
straps or bands fixed to the side of the iron frame of the engine or carriage,
for the purpose of better securing the axle box in its proper position; but
they are made sufficiently large to allow the box to move up and down
freely within them. I make the axles of the antifriction wheels or rollers
mounted in an axle box and their bearings of such dimensions that the
whole amount of rubbing or bearing surface of the bearings in each axle box
may be nearly the same as if the axle of the engine or carriage wheels were
mounted in an ordinary bush or journal; and I cause the amount of rubbing
or bearing surface in each axle box to be equally distributed amongst the
bearings of the antifriction wheels or rollers mounted within it. When an
engine or carriage, furnished with bearings of this description, is put in motion,
the axle of each pair of wheels will by a revolution only partially turn the
antifriction wheels or rollers resting upon it, and will therefore cause a smaller
amount of rubbing or friction than if the engine or carriage had been fur-
nished with bushes or bearings of the ordinary description. My chief object
in constructing my bearings in this manuer is to diminish, as far as practicable,
the amount and intensity of the friction occasioned by the revolution of the
axles of railway engines or carriage wheels within their bearings, and thus to
produce a saving of the amount of power necessary for producing the loco-
motion of the engine or carriage. The antifriction wheels or rollers which I

page_text: use in applying my Invention to the wheels of carriages now in use upon
ordinary roads, such as waggon wheels, I mount within the naves of such
wheels. The nave of one of such wheels must be made very considerably larger
than an ordinary nave, so as to allow it to have an orifice bored in it
sufficiently large to contain not only the axle of the carriage wheel, but
also the antifriction wheels or rollers. Three or four antifriction wheels
or rollers must be mounted upon suitable bearings within the orifice of
each nave, and they must be so mounted as to admit the axle of the carriage
wheel to pass through between them in the centre of the nave, and so that
the edge or face of each of the antifriction wheels or rollers will touch the
surface of the axle of the carriage wheel, and cause the carriage wheel to
rotate steadily upon its axle; the antifriction wheels or rollers in this case
being to be used in lieu of a bush, such as is ordinarily introduced into the nave
of a carriage wheel to receive its axle; and in order to keep the carriage wheel
steady when in motion, the antifriction wheels or rollers should be made wide
enough to cause each end of the axle of a carriage to have the same length of
bearing as in wheels constructed in the ordinary manner, or nearly so.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which
the saine is to be performed, I declare that I claim, as of my Invention, the
construction of the bearings of such railway engines, and railway and other
carriages, as aforesaid, with antifriction wheels or rollers, in manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gaspard Brandt, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.