IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WHEELS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL
גע
CHAPLIN, of Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of
June, One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick Chaplin, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Frederick
Chaplin, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick
Chaplin, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WHEELS OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Frederick Chaplin, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, to be inrolled 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 in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Frederick Chaplin, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of attaching to the wheels of carriages used on rail-
ways the substance hereafter mentioned, which will give to the driving wheels
of the locomotive carriages a better power of biting on the rails, and, when
applied to the wheels of other railway carriages, will cause the carriages to run
with less noise and more smoothly. To accomplish this, I make use of hides
or skins or leather, whether 'tanned, tawed, or curried, or prepared in any other
way, or the hide merely in the raw state; but I prefer strong ox or buffalo
hides not otherwise prepared or dressed than merely dried. I cut this sub-
stance into strips, about three quarters of an inch in width, and as long as the
length of the hide will allow. The hair may easily be cut off with a cominon
knife or other suitable instrument. These strips I fasten strongly together,
side by side, by means of copper or iron rivets, compressing the strips as much
as possible when rivetting them together, so as to form a belt of about three
quarters of an inch in depth (that is the width of the strips), and half an inch
in width, being the thickness generally of three of the strips more or less,
according to the thickness of the hide or skin. The length of the belt is to be
sufficient to pass round the tire or periphery of the wheel; and in joining the
strips lengthways care should be taken that the ends of the different strips do
not come together in any one place, but that they break joint, that is, that the
joint of any two ends shall be covered by the substance of the next piece.
The rivets should be about one inch and a half or two inches apart; or other
means may be resorted to for combining the strips together instead of rivets,
or in addition to them. The more the strips are compressed when rivetted,
the firmer and harder the belt will be. I make a groove in the tire of the
wheel, extending all round it, three quarters of an inch deep and half an inch
wide, as nearly as possible in the centre of the tread, or that part of the wheel
which is generally in contact with the rail. Into this groove I insert the belt,
which should be made to fit so tightly into the groove as to require to be
hammered in with considerable force, the strips having been left of unequal
lengths at both ends of the belt, so that the parts may break joint, as described
above; and I fit the ends together as closely as possible, driving them tightly
into the groove, so that the whole may form a level hoop or band, filling up
the
groove. To secure this band in its place I pass two iron bolts of about

page_text: three sixteenths of an inch in diameter through the iron on the outer side or
edge of the tire (or the inner, if preferred), and through the belt, and into
the iron on the other side of the belt, to the depth of about half an inch, as
shewn at Figure 1, these bolts being secured by a screw or worm on each,
extending about half an inch immediately next the head of the bolt, and by
means of this firmly screwed into the tire. These bolts will require to be (for
an ordinary driving wheel) of from three and a half to five inches in length,
according to the breadth of the tire, and are to be inserted in holes made to
fit them, at about two inches apart, where the ends of the belt meet, so that
each bolt may pass through one or more of the strips of each end, thus firmly
connecting the ends together. I also insert other similar bolts in the same
manner at intervals of about two feet all round the wheel for the further
security of the belt. I find it advantageous to round off the edges of the
groove at a, Figure 1, so that the weight and force of the wheel may not act
too strongly on the edge of the iron, which will thus be removed from contact
with the rail; and the sides of the groove will also be stronger if sloped
slightly inwards, so that the bottom of the groove may be about an eighth of
an inch less than the top.
Another mode which I also adopt to fasten the belt into the groove is as
follows I take a small key or bracket, Figure 2, of steel or other suitable
material, and fix the upper part a between the strips composing the belt, so
that two or more of the rivets which fasten the strips together may pass
through the holes in the key. The shank or leg of the key (6) is then passed
through a hole in the tire of the wheel, at the bottom of the groove, so that it
may be secured by a nut and screw at c. I do not confine myself to the exact
dimensions of the parts as specified, nor do I confine myself to the means of
fixing as above described.
Having thus described my Invention, and the best means I am acquainted
with for performing the same, I hereby declare that what I claim is, the
application of hide, skin, or leather, whether tanned, tawed, or curried, or
dressed or cured in any other way, or hide in the raw state, whether dried or
not, to the wheels of carriages running on railways, so that such hide or other
material may be in contact with the rail when the carriage is running, as
herein explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Chaplin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
FRED (L.s.) CHAPLIN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1847, the aforesaid Frederick Chaplin came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.