IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE AXLES AND AXLE BOXES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Watkins, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE
AXLES AND AXLE BOXES."
Sealed the 22nd August 1861, and dated the 26th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Watkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th April 1861.
I, JOHN WATKINS; of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CARRIAGE AXLES AND AXLE BOXES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
My improvements consist, firstly, in securing the cap from accidental
disconnection from the box by employing a spring pivot working through a
hole in the flange of the cap.
Secondly, in employing an external or internal hexagon head to the cap,
making the nuts self-adjusting on Collinges' or other similar axles.
Thirdly, in the use of a single or double screw bolt in the tube of the axle
of hexagonal section, either internal or external, secured by a pin passing
through a collar and through the interior bolt.
Fourthly, the ends of my improved axles are bored to receive an internal
screw bolt, the tubular ends being furnished with expanding and contracting
segments by which the boxes are protected or secured in case the nuts, collets,
or screw bolts should get deranged.
Fifthly, I apply friction rollers in the collar of the axle to relieve the wear
upon the leather washer.
Sixthly, I use a double-reversed spiral groove upon the axle for the purpose

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Watkins in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WATKINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Watkins, Her special licence that I, the said John
Watkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Watkins, 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 CARRIAGE AXLES AND AXLE BOXES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Watkins, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 I, the said John Watkins, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My improvements consist, firstly, in securing the cap from accidental dis-
connection from the box, by employing a spring pivot working through a hole
in the flange of the cap.
Secondly, in employing an external or internal bexagon head to the cap
making the nuts self-adjusting on Collinges' or other similar axles.
Thirdly, in the use of a single or double screw bolt in the tube of the axle

page_text: contracts and allows of the outer box (L) being removed; (K) is a lock pin,
passing through the collar and the end of the screw bolt (E) to prevent the
'screw bolt from revolving with the box; (s,s,) are perforations in the box (p),
to permit the lubricating material to pass through to the axle (at) the tubular
part (d). With reference to the axle shewn at (Figure 4), it will be seen
that this axle differs from that represented in (Figure 2), in the application of a
short single-screwed bolt (t) in lieu of the long double-screwed bolt. This
short bolt (t) is secured by a luck pin (n), passing through the head (f), and
also through the female. thread of the axle (a) and the male thread of the
screw bolt (t). The interior of the axle may in this instance be used as a
lubricating chamber.
In Figures 5, 6, and 7 an axle is shewn secured in its box (d) by a garter
or pin (E) working in a groove (f) upon the axle, and passing through a
collar on the box. I can also make this description of axle with a groove
upon the interior of the collar of the box instead of upon the axle. A stud or
pin upon the axle in this instance working in the groove, and answering the
same purposes as that described.
Figures 8 and 9 represent an axle (a), connected to the box (6), by means
of a lock nut or loose bush (c), which screws over the collar (d) of the
axle (a), and also screws over a loose collar (9), securing the box to the axle
by the collar (E) upon the box.
In this last-described form of axle I can also employ, if preferred, a single
bush screwed on to the collar of the axle instead of the double bush; or I cau
also employ the double bush screwed directly on to the collar of the axle.
These bushes are to act as the lock nuts.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the exact details herein described; but that which I claim as my
Invention is the several improvements in carriage axles and axle boxes, and
in securing together the parts of which such axles and axle boxes are formed,
in manner herein more fully set forth and specified..
In witness whereof, I, the said John Watkins, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOHN WATKINS. (L.S.)