IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY WHEELS, AXLES, AND AXLE BOXES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bridges Adams, of No. 1, Adam Street,
Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY WHEELS, AXLES, AND AXLE BOXES."
Sealed the 21st October 1856, and dated the 9th July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bridges Adams
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th July 1855.
I, WILLIAM BRIDGES ADAMS, of No. 1, Adam Street, Adelphi, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY WHEELS, AXLES, AND AXLE BOXES," to
be as follows:-
In accurately boring the tyres and turning the wheels to guages, so that
any tyre will fit any wheel of corresponding diameter, and the tyre, being
warmed to about a blue heat, will contract on the wheel sufficiently fast
without mischievously straining the fibres, as when rea heats are used.
Another part of my Invention is improvements on my mode of securing
wheel tyres by expanding hoops, grooved and keyed or wedged into the tyres,
as patented by me at the date of December 8th, 1853.
My improvement consists in making the expanding hoops of conoidal form,
and driving them into circular grooves corresponding to that form in the tyre
or in the wheel, or both the.expansion of the hoops taking place in the act of
driving them into the grooves, though the grooves are of parallel width. The
conoidal hoop may be made of what is technically called angle iron, or of plain

page_text: iron bar, square or flat in section, in which cases the hoop must be cut through,
so as to enter one end first and then gradually driving it in all round, closing
the two ends, either abutting them with a slant joint, or wedging, or keying, or
screwing them, or any other means.
Another variety of my expanding hoop is to make it of the section called in
machinery a gib, that is to say, a section similar in outline to the letter E,
being formed with three sides. This hoop may be either open, jointed, or
welded close to the exact diameter, so that the upper and lower fillet will
correspond to the opening of two concentric circular grooves, cut one on the
face of the tyre and the other on the face of the wheel. But the grooves
being of larger diameter internally than externally, though parallel in width,
in the act of driving the fillets will expand, and the hoop will be firmly fixed,
and will hold both tyre and wheel together, and, if preferred, one of the grooves
may be rectangular to the face of the wheel; and, if preferred, the two
grooves, or one of them, may be made of diminishing diameter internally
instead of increasing, and a similar holding effect will be produced, only the
hoop will in such case contract instead of expanding internally, and these gib
hoops may be made of elastic steel to spring in; and if this gib-formed hoop
be not made to expand at all, but merely to fit in the grooves, then a plain
expanding hoop may be placed behind it in a vertical groove of the tyre to
keep it in its place. All these hoops may be applied with the tyres cold when
the wheels are completed otherwise, as the tyres require no hammering or
setting to keep the hoops firm. And on the front internal rib of the tyre,
against which the wheel abuts, a horizontal groove may be cut with a similar
groove on the wheel, and in this double groove a tongue of steel or iron.may
be placed, which in case of the tyre bursting will aid the conoidal hoops -in
keeping it from escaping from the wheel. And these conoidal hoops may be
made in combination with any other mode of locking the tyre, as dovetails or
tongues, and grooves or loose tongues. It is obvious that these hoops may be
made in two or more pieces, provided the pieces be long enough to keep in
the grooves, and a layer of india-rubber or other elastic material may be used
between the tyre and the wheel in combination with these fastenings.
Another of my improvements is a new construction of cast-iron wheels.
My improvement in axles and axle boxes consists in using a combination
of wood with the axle, and in an arrangement of axle collars to dip up the
lubricating matter and carry it to the bearing while revolving.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Bridges Adams in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BRIDGES ADAMS, of No. 1, Adam Street, Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
}
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give-and grant unto me, the said William."
Bridges Adams, Her special licence that I, the said William Bridges Adams,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William,
Bridges Adams, my executors, administrators, 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,
AXLES, AND AXLE BOXES," upon the condition (amongst others) that 'I, the said
William Bridges Adams, my executors or administrators, by an instrument:
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 I, the said William Bridges Adams, do hereby,
declare the nature of my said 'Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and' ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say :-
First, in accurately boring the tyres and turning the wheels to guages, so.
that they may be forced on by pressure, or shrunk on with a low heat, to avoid
straining the iron.
Secondly, in securing the wheels to the tyres by means of expanding hoops:
of a conoidal or conical form. Fig. 1 shews the tyre, the hoop, and part of:
the wheel in section. The tyre A-has a front rib a, against which the wheel:
run abuts with an undercut edge; a channel-formed hoop, shewn at C, of
parallel form, is driven into circular grooves of conical form in the wheel and
tyre. In the act of driving, either hot or cold, the forked edges of the hoop
expand and the hoop is secured. The hoop may be of continuous form

page_text: b
welded together, or it may be cut through, or segments may be used, but I
prefer it formed with a single cut through it, as being simpler to use; and the
grooves in the wheel and tyre may be coned in the opposite direction, if
preferred, diminishing their diameter internally, and the hoop may be formed
with the upper lip rectangular and the lower one elongated, or vice versa, and
coned either before or after driving in; or the hoop may be formed with an
angled lip, as a, Fig. 2, fitting a conical groove in the tyre, being either an
entire hoop or with a cut in it, and another hoop 6 being driven at the back
of it to secure it, the whole forming a circular gib and cotter; or the hoop may
be an angle section in a conical form, as a, Fig. 3, the hoop being cut through
and entered one end first, and so driven all round, either hot or cold, into the
conical groove; or a plain hoop cut through and in a coned form, as a, may be
driven into the conical grooves, and the wheel may be secured to the front rib
by a loose tongue b, which loose tongue may also be used to the other wheel
arrangements herein described, if preferred, as shewn at Fig. 4; and instead
of the solid rib in front, I vary the plan by using the hoop arrangements both
back and front of the wheel and tyre, and the expanding rings, where jointed.
or in parts, can be secured by wedges or keys.
in section.
Thirdly, instead of these coned hoops I use clips in coned grooves, as Fig. 5,
A is the tyre; B, the wheel; C, the clip, about three or more
inches long, one between each pair of spokes. The clips are made with the
ends parallel. The ends being heated, are driven into the coned grooves, and
there shrink and hold the wheels tight. If preferred, the wheel may abut
against a fillet on the tyre at the front or back, and the cone grooves may, if
preferred, be made in the opposite direction, to turn the ends of the clips
outwards; and as a variation from this, the grooves may be coned in a
different form, as Fig. 6. A is the section of the tyre; B, the section of the
wheel rim; C, the clip, which is heated and opened at the ends, and driven
into the conical grooves a, a. Another variation is shewn at Fig. 7 in section.
A is the tyre, with a central projection and-a-dovetail a, a, on each side; B is
the wheel rim; C, the clip, which is a strong square bar, cranked and dove-
tailed at the points b, b; it is heated, expanded, driven into the dovetails and
shrunk. There may be a fillet on the interior of the tyre to abut the wheel
against, if preferred, in all the examples. Slight variations may be made in
the modes of securing these clips if required, and any convenient number of
them may be used.
Fourthly, my improvements in placing a layer of india-rubber, cork, or
other elastic or compressible material between the tyre and the wheel are of
various kinds. One of them is to place, a hoop or band of india-rubber

page_text: between two hoops of thin metal, with open ends, the width of the wheel rim,
and placing this compound hoop within the tyre to force the wheel in upon it,
the tyre being secured laterally either by a solid rib in front and a false hoop
rib behind, or between two false hoop ribs, Fig. 8. A is the tyre with a
solid front rib; B is the rim of the wheel; C, the india-rubber band between
two thin metal hoops or bands c, c; D, the false hoop rib at the back. The
metal hoop below the india-rubber may be omitted if preferred. The false
hoop rib D has a piece cut out of it, and is sprung into its plain groove, and
the key or wedge E, shewn at Fig. 9, is driven into the opening, and rivitted
or otherwise secured; and instead of this hoop rib a plain washer ring may be
used, and secured by bolts to the front rib, as Fig. 10, and any form of solid
rib, or false rib, or hoop may be used in combination with this arrangement,
the object of which is to relieve the blows on the wheel; and any kind of
wheel may be used, either of wood, or metal, or other material, cast iron being
probably as good as any. The object of the thin hoops placed above and
below the india-rubber is to facilitate the sliding in of the wheel under
pressure, and to prevent friction on the rubber; and instead of india-rubber
I use a hoop of wood bent to a circular form, and the internal periphery of
the tyre being coned, and the wheel coned to correspond, and the hoop oiled
or greased, being placed in the tyre, the wheel may be forced in by pressure,,
with or without a facing of thin iron, and secured in any mode, one mode.
being shewn at Fig. 11, where A is the tyre; B, the wheel rim; and C, the
wooden hoop; and instead of this wooden hoop, a hoop of papier maché or
gutta percha, or layers of compressed cork may be used, or any compressable,
or elastic material, with or without the metal hoops, to protect them in forcing:
on the wheel. And instead of the materials before described, an open hoop of
A is the
elastic steel or segments of elastic steel may be used, as Fig. 12.
tyre, with a solid front rib, and a hollow across the internal breadth at a, on
which is laid the hoop of the steel b. The periphery of the wheel B is turned.
to a curve or angle corresponding to the hollow, and the hoop being slightly
conical, the wheel is forced in upon it, and rests elastically. A false hoop
rib C is sprung in behind. and securely keyed, as before described. Thus the
wheel is analagous to the elastic foot of a horse, and will not strike hard
blows on the rails, nor be damaged by them. Moreover, the hollow spaces.
between the tyre spring and wheel may be filled with tallow, and thus the
tyre will have a facility for revolving in all cases where the irregularity of tho
rails tend to create torsion of the axles and risk their breakage; and thus also
the wear of the tyres by sliding on the rails. will be much obviated, and the.
resistance to traction will be lessened. The elastic pressure will keep the

page_text: wheel sufficiently fast on the tyre without preventing the revolution when
required, the amount of movement being very small; and inasmuch as it is
desirable while obtaining some elasticity between the tyre and the wheel,
which will materially prevent friction in the axle boxes, caused by the blows,
to preserve
the true circular form of the tyres when using tyers without ribs,
it will be desirable to apply deep false ribs, which will act like girders, to
sustain the true form. The false ribs may be dovetailed into the tyre if
preferred, and secured by cotter rings; and instead of a flat spring hoop and
á curved groove within the wheel periphery, the spring hoop may be curved,
or a double spring hoop may be used with a flat tyre and flat periphery, and
the elastic yielding and absence of strain on the tyre will very much diminish
the risk of breaking.
It it be required to make a very safe wheel of this kind, it may be
accomplished thus,-i.e., a wheel which will secure the tyre in case of break-
age. Fig. 13: A is the tyre; B, the wheel rim with the edges projecting;
c, c, are false ribs, dovetailed and ring-keyed into the tyre, and with gibs and
lips above projecting above the edges of the wheel; if, the tyre bursts, the
rings will hold it and clip it to the wheel. Fig. 14 shews an angle ring B
lying on an inclined rebate of the tyre A. It is sprung in and keyed fast,
and being coned it cannot escape; but the angle iron may, if preferred, be
sunk into a shallow groove, with a fillet outside to keep it in its place. As
these wheels are protected against blows they may be made of cast iron. In
welding up the tyres I prefer to weld them, with a blowpipe heat from gas.
ánd atmospheric air, or oxygen under pressure, and to close the heated joint
by pressure. The wheels may be formed with long bosses to keep true on
the axles without keying fast, and to run loose if required; or they may be
keyed on in the usual mode; and the object of the elastic material between
the wheel and tyre is to prevent blows and crystallization of the iron, and for
a similar purpose I am about to specify the application of springs between.
rails-and-chairs, and in all cases a false rib may be used in front of the tyre
instead of a solid one, and washer collars and hook-head-bolts may be used to
all-the-wheels-described, with elastic packing in contact with the tyres instead.
the spring hoops or angle hoops on rebates, and the elastic packing springs
on which the wheel is supported may be placed in a hollow of the wheel
instead of the tyre if preferred. Fig. 14: A shews a mode of securing a tyre
by bolts or rivets between the tyre and felly. A is the felly of wood; B, the
tyre with a central flange; but which may be of other form; C, the bolt or
rivet, which passes through a hole made in the felly. The tyre is shewn
conical in the internal periphery, and may be pressed on cold or shrunk on

page_text: hot, as preferred, on the wood fellies, and I prefer to put the rivets between
the joints of the fellies; and the central flange may, if preferred, not be in
the solid but shrunk hot on to a shallow groove in the tyre.
My improvements in cast wheels relates partly to wheels which are sheeve
form on the edge, and run loose on the axle. Fig. 15 shews the wheel A
with the lower half B.in section, and a large hollow to contain oil, which lies
below. The axle C is a piece of loose shafting, and the bearing may be on
both sides of the wheel, or on the outside only, at D, in which case a hollow
cylinder of hard wood E is placed between the wheels to guage the distance,
and to support the axle between, and this same arrangement may be used to
determine the distance between wheels with ordinary flanges, which it is
desired to run loose on railways. The-wheel-is-shewn without a tyre, but any
kind of tyre may be applied with a central flange to run in a channel, or with
á plain tyre to run in a channel; and in any case, either as a central flanged
tyre, or a double flanged tyre, or a plain tyre, one rail will serve as a guide to
the wheels on one side the engine; carriage, or train, while the other wheels
may run on any kind of surface.
:
My improvements in axle boxes consist in arrangements for the more
perfect lubrication by elastic collars, which clip the axle elastically at that part
of the bearing next the wheel, and which can revolve with it; or the axle can
revolve in the collar, by these collars preventing the oil or greese into which
they dip from escaping, and thus keeping the lower part-bathed in oil, or
grease, or water, or other material; in applying an elastic or other end bearing-
to the axle to limit its endlong motion; in making the joints of the box when.
made in two parts lapping one over the other, and made tight by elastic
packing; in leaving free access for air and lubricating matter from the front
top to the bottom of the box in front of the axle, in addition to or without
the usual 'fee through holes in the bearing brass on the axle; in dispensing.
with the collar bearings on the axle, one or both; in applying false bearings
of enlarged size to solid and to hollów axles; some portions of which are
improvements on my Patents of the years One thousand eight hundred and
forty-six and One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
Fig. 16 is the longitudinal. section, Fig. 17 the cross section, and Fig. 18
the side view of an improved box. The upper half A, A, A; is made to lap over
the lower half B, B, B, at a, a, a, a, a. The two halves are bolted together by
lugs at b, b, b, the lower lugs being notched into the upper box, and an elastic
stuffing is applied between the meeting edges to make a tight joint. The axle
journal C; C, is very little smaller in diameter than where it passes through the
wheel face, shewn by the line D, and there are no collars, as in ordinary axles,

page_text: to confine it to the bearing brass E, E. Between the end of the axle and the
inner front of the box is placed a convex disc of steel or other metal plate F
to prevent the axle end from striking the box, and partly to determine the
amount of end play, and the space G communicates in a large opening with
the lower box B. The back of the box next the wheel is a circular chamber
projecting over the axle, as described in my Patent of One thousand eight
hundred and forty-seven, to contain an elastic stuffing. The flat internal faces
of this chamber I prefer to have turned smooth in the lathe. On the axle
within this chamber are placed two collars of metal or other material i, i,
either rigid or elastic, but I prefer metal; on each of which is a tongued slide
as shewn on face in Fig. 19. Round the edges of these collars is a groove
containing a flat or round hoop of elastic metal, which comprises the two parts
of the collar together with just so much of force as is needful to follow up the
wear. Between these two collars is placed a conical elastic disc of metal, steel
being preferable m, m, m, which keeps the collars elastically apart and
pressed against the faces of the chamber; and other elastic material may be:
used for the same purpose, and thus a grease or oil of water-tight joint is
maintained round the axle and against the box, with elastic yielding, in case
of jerks or violence. o, o, o, is a screw plug to empty the box. The bearing
spring and grease cover are applied in any usual manner as well as the axle
guards.
Figs. 20 and 21 are a face and edge view of the spring disc m; Fig. 22:
shews a collar without a top, not meant to revolve with a spring wire to
retain it; Fig. 23, a smaller collar with a steel or metal hoop; Fig. 24, a
collar with a top slide and spring hoop.
Fig. 25 shews an axle journal enlarged by a supplementary bearing a, a,
dipping below the inner diameter of the spring collars, and serving as a.
shoulder against them. The back end of this supplementary bearing is tapered
out to prevent an abrupt angle tending to break the axle; the collars will
yield to it elastically. E is the bearing brass; a segmental piece of curved steel
or other metal, seen in length at Fig. 26, receives the axle end. It is not-new-
to put moveable bearings to railway axles, for I have described the plan in my.
Patent of One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, but that was a
bearing with double cones, and it was not enlarged to form a collar at the:
back, as herein shewn.
Fig. 27 shews an axle journal with a front collar retained between the
end of the bearing brass E and the spring segment F.
Fig. 28 shews an ordinary axle journal with two collars, as usual, and the
double spring collar placed at the enlarged part of the axle, and with a metal.

page_text: wearing slide in front, being an improvement on my plan of One thousand
eight hundred and forty-six, patented, and permitting of four wearing surfaces.
Fig. 29 shews a hollow axle A, A, in longitudinal section, and the journal,
slightly reduced from the full size. B, B, represents the section of the lining
of a close axle box, which may, however, have more clearance below, or which
may be made in two halves; C, C, is a chamber collar fixed against the back
of the box, and containing the elastic collars i, i, and the disc spring m. The
front of the axle journal being slightly tapered, can be easily pushed through
the collars in their place, and the whole will be tight. The axle may be solid
if preferred, and the elastic collars may be made if preferred in three or more
parts, or in halves, and water may be used in the lower part of the box to float
the oil up to the axle bearing; and if the usual alkaline grease is used, and
gets hard below, water applied above will soften it, and produce free lubrica-
tion; and these axle boxes may be cleaned without lifting them from the
axle by pouring hot water in at the top, opening and floating off all the grease
or oil, and then letting off the water at the screw plug below; and in case of
accidental heating, or by neglect, water can readily be poured in at the top
opening to cool the axle by filling the box.
Having now described my said Invention, I wish it to be understood that
what I claim as original is,-
The expanding channel hoops fixed in conoidal or conical grooves, shewn at
Fig. 1.
The circular gib and cotter ring fastenings, shewn at Fig. 2.
The conical angle hoop, Fig. 3; and the conical hoop, Fig. 4; either of
these plans taken separately, or in combination with a plain or under-cut front
rib on the tyre, as herein-before described.
.: The clip fastenings on grooves or dovetails, as shewn at Figs. 5, 6, and 7,
and herein-before described.
The elastic packing of india-rubber, cork, or other elastic or compressible
packing placed between the wheel and tyre, secured by a solid rib of the tyre
in front and an expanding rib or hoop at the back, or by expanding ribs front
and back, as shewn at Figures 8, 9, and 10; also securing the tyre to the
wheel with elastic or compressible packing between, by a back washer ring
and hook head bolts clipping the front rib, as shewn at Fig. 10; also the
application of a hoop of wood, papier maché, gutta percha, or other com-
pressible material, which may be in combination with thin metal hoops,
secured by a solid and false rib or two false ribs, as shewn at Fig. 11, and
herein-before described.
Steel or other elastic metal hoops or segments applied between the wheel
=

page_text: and tyre, with provision for slight elastic action, and secured between a solid
and false rib or two false ribs, as shewn at Figs. 12, 13, and 14, and also the
clip gib hoops, shewn at Fig. 13; also the angle hoop fastening, shewn at
Fig. 14, and the side bolting or rivetting, as Fig. 14, A, and also the loose
flange shrunk on, as herein-before described.
The provision for power of lubrication to permit the tyre to slip round on.
the wheel to avoid friction between the tyre and the rail, and also to avoid
torsion of the axles, as herein-before described.
The axle, without a back collar, bearing the moveable collar, with a slidė
fixed by a circular or other spring, and their combination with the front
wearing piece at the axle end, and also with the overlapping top or bottom of
the box to keep tight packing, forming a grease, or oil, or water-tight axle box
bathing, the axle bearing below and feeding from above on to the journal, if
required, as shewn at Figures 16, 17, and 18, and herein-before described.
Also the moveable bearing, with a rib or without, to enlarge the bearing
surface of the axle, and dip into the oil or grease well below, and which may be
combined with the loose collar and other arrangements of Figures 16, 17, and
18, as shewn at Fig. 25; also the application of moveable bearings to hollow
axles, to prevent the need of their being swaged down, and thus involving risk;
also the construction and application of moveable collars, as shewn at Figures
16, 19, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29; also the application of half collars and
moveable collars to axle journals without either front or back solid collars,
as Fig. 25, or with a front collar only, as Fig. 27, or with front and back
collars, as herein-before described.
I claim the before-described arrangements for axle boxes and journals in
combination with a grease or oil-feeding aperture, open above and communi-
cating with the lower part of the box, so as to keep the journal bathed in
lubricating matter, and which aperture will serve for ventilation and expansion
of the oil or grease when heated, and also to receive water to fill the box to
cool the-axle-and-box, and also to wash the box and axle out without lifting,
as herein-before described.
The elastic spring-or-cushion at the axle end-in front of the box, to sustain
the axle end, and save the front of the box from blows, as shewn at Fig. 27;
and the moveable and wearing piece in combination with the elastic collars,
shewn at Fig. 28, and herein-before described.
The combination of the open top front of the box with the tight bottom of
metal packed at the joint, to return oil, or grease, or water in contact with the
lower side of the axle, as herein-before described.
The cast-wheel of sheeve form, with the arrangement of axle and lubricator,

page_text: as Fig. 15; and also the application of tyres with a single metal flange or two-
edge flanges or plain tyres without flanges to run in channel rails, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bridges Adams, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
WILLIAM BRIDGES ADAMS. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said
William Bridges Adams, in the
presence of
HENRY WANSEY,
3, Moorgate St., London, Sol.