Improvements in or relating to the Construction of Hubs for the Wheels of Velocipedes and other Vehicles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 6th Mar., 1897-Accepted, 21st Aug., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to the Construction of Hubs for the
Wheels of Velocipedes and other Vehicles.
We, WILLIAM PILKINGTON of Wylde Green Erdington Manufacturer and
ARTHUR PILKINGTON of Erdington Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature
of our said invention to be as follows:-
The hubs for the wheels of velocipedes and other vehicles have hitherto been
made by casting or by stamping metal in a plastic state in appropriate dies.
Our improvements consist in making the barrel or body of the hub from a
piece of seamless or other tube, the material of which is preferably steel.
We form the flanges thereon and to which the spokes are attached from the
metal of the tube itself. To effect this object we place a piece of tube of the
requisite diameter length and guage in appropriate dies bringing pressure to bear
in such a manner as to force the metal of the tube outward into recesses in the
dies, so as to form the flange or flanges (we may employ any other process to effect
this purpose).
It is necessary sometimes to repeat the process once or more with dies of
differing size and shape to attain the proper configuration of the barrel of the hub.
To the barrel thus formed can be affixed by well known means the conical seats
for the balls forming the bearing and in the case of the hubs of driving wheels,
the toothed wheels which engage with the driving chains.
1900
THOS.
KENDRICK,
New Eldon Chambers, 50 Cherry Street, Birmingham, Agent.
Improvements in or relating to the Construction of Hubs for the
Wheels of Velocipedes and other Vehicles.
We, WILLIAM PILKINGTON, of Wylde Green Erdington, Manufacturer, and
ARTHUR PILKINGTON of Erdington, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of our said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:
Hubs for the wheels of velocipedes, and other vehicles, have hitherto been made
by casting, or by stamping metal in a sufficiently soft condition in appropriate
dies or by processes involving rolling and spinning operations.
The present Invention has for its object to make the flanged hub ready for the
attachment of the spokes, by a simple process of pressing from a piece of seamless,
or other tube (preferably steel tube) the flange or flanges thereon being formed
from the metal of the tube itself. This we effect by placing a piece of tube of
the requisite diameter, length, and gauge, in and between appropriate dies,

page_text: bringing hydraulic, screw, or other, pressure to bear on the opposite ends of the
said piece of tube in such a manner as to force the metal of the tube outward
into recesses in the dies, so as to form the flange or flanges.
The operation may be performed at once in one process or the process may be
repeated once, or a greater number of times, using at each succeeding process,
dies of different size and shape gradually approaching that required finally in the
finished article.
To the hub thus formed can be affixed, by any suitable, or known, means, the
conical seats for the balls forming the bearing and, in the case of the hubs of
driving wheels, the toothed wheels which engage with the driving chains.
In the accompanying drawing we have illustrated in longitudinal section a
machine suitable for making hubs with two flanges according to this Invention.
Figure 1 shews the tube in place before being acted upon by the machine and
Figure 2 the tube and machine in the positions they assume when the tube has been
acted upon by the machine.
A support A, and a moveable upper part A2, have an opening into which the
portion of tube to be pressed is inserted. The moveable part A³ is kept in place
by a screw B working in a nut in the crosshead C. In the sides of the parts A
and As around the opening therethrough are recesses a a2 formed to correspond
with one side of the flanges to be formed on the hub. Opposite each end of the said
opening are plungers D) mounted in suitable carriers and acted upon by hydraulic,
screw, or other, pressure. Each plunger has formed on or secured in it a
projection D2 (which enters the tube) and a recess at d shaped to correspond with
the other side of the flanges to be formed on the hub and with inward extensions
of these recesses at d of a depth corresponding to the portions of the hub which
are to project beyond the flanges. The original form of the ends of the tube is
shewn in Figure 1. When pressure is put upon the plungers they force the metal
of the tube at each end outward into the recesses a ad as shewn in Figure 2 and
so form the flanges from the material of the tube. By slacking the screw B the
part A can be removed and after the plungers D have been withdrawn the hub
can be removed and a fresh length of tube put in place. One flange only can be
formed on the tube by causing one plunger to form an abutment for the end of the
tube, or by closing the opening through A A2 at one end to form such abutment,
the recesses to form the flange acting on the tube from one end only.
By the foregoing means the hub with a flange or flanges thereon is formed by
a pressing operation or pressing operations alone without any stamping casting
rolling or spinning operation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we claim
is:-
1. The manufacture of hubs for the wheels of velocipedes or other vehicles from
tubing by one pressing operation or by a series of pressing operations by pressing
the tubing in a press provided with recesses into which the metal of the tube is
forced outwards to form the flange or flanges as hereinbefore described.
2. As a new article of manufacture a hub made as hereinbefore described and 4
claimed.
Dated this 7th day of August 1807
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47 Lincolns Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.