A NEW AND USEFUL OR IMPROVED MACHINE FOR ROLLING TIRES FOR WHEELS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathan Washburn, of the State of Massachusetts, of
the United States of America, for the Invention of "A NEW AND USEFUL
OR IMPROVED MACHINE FOR ROLLING TIRES FOR WHEELS."
Sealed the 6th May 1859, and dated the 11th March 1859.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Nathan Washburn at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declara-
tion; on the 11th March 1859, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent
Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE, IT
KNOWN, that I, NATHAN WASHBURN, of the State of Massachusetts, of the
United States of America, have invented "A NEW AND USEFUL OR IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR ROLLING TIRES FOR WHEELS :" And I do hereby declare that the
nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which it is to be performed,
or, in other words, its construction and mode of operation, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following Specification and the accompanying
Drawings, of which Figure 1 denotes a top view; Figure 2, a side elevation;
Figure 8, a front elevation; and Figure 4, a longitudinal and vertical section
of such machine; Figure 5 is a vertical section taken at right angles to the

page_text: axis of and through the series of adjustable carrying rollers, and their sup-
porting frame or holder.
The nature of my Invention consists in a combination of a set of reducing
rollers, a series of adjustable carrying rollers (or their equivalents), and a
frame or holder thereof (that is, of the carrying rollers), supported so as to
be capable of rising upward within the wheel tire in proportion as the diameter
of the inner periphery of the said tire may increase during the process of rolling
the tire, the said carrying rollers being arranged and niade adjustable with
respect to their holder and the reducing. rollers in manner substantially as
herein-after specified.
The special object of my Invention is not only to reduce a tire in thickness
by rollers, but at the same timo to impart to it a true circular form on its
inner periphery, as well as to smooth and even such periphery.
In carrying out my Invention, therefore, I make use of a pair or set of
reducing rollers A, B, mounted respectively on two shafts C, D, arranged
within a suitable frame E. The boxes a, b, of the superior shaft D, may be
applied to the frame so as to be capable of being elevated or depressed therein
by means of screws c, d, or other suitable equivalents, and so as to enable the
distance between the peripheries of the two reducing rollers to be changed as
circumstances may require.
To one end of the frame E a circular plate or disk F may be applied, the
same being arranged with respect to the reducing rollers A, B, as shown in
the Drawings. Against the outer face or surface of this plate F, and pro-
jecting therefrom, is a vertical guide ledge e, which in its horizontal section is
dovetailed for the purpose of receiving and maintaining in its place against
the plate F, the main frame or holder G of the series of carrying rollers d, d,
d, d, d, d, each of which is supported in an adjustable carrier H, and has its
axis parallel to that of each of the rollers A, B. Each carrier H should be
applied to the frame G, so as to be capable of being moved in a radial direc-
tion either towards or away from the center of the frame, or a bevel gear e¹
fixed on a shaft f, arranged at the central part of the frame G, as shown in the
Drawings. Furthermore, to each carrier H there is a screw f¹, which screws
into it lengthwise, and is so held by the frame G as to be capable of being
rotated axially therein, but without having any longitudinal movement within
the frame. Each screw is provided with, or has affixed to its inner end, a
bevel gear g, to work into the gear e'.
The frame or holder G is overbalanced by means of a weight i, attached to
a chain k, which passes around a sheave' (at the upper part of a standard

page_text: or post m), and is attached to the said holder G, the whole being as shown in
the Drawings.
Each of the screws f¹, f¹, should be made exactly alike. The same may
be said of the bevel gears affixed to their inner ends. The form of the peri-
phery of each of the reducing rollers A, B, may be such as may produce the
form in transverse section that it may be desirable for the wheel tire to have.
The Drawings exhibit the rollers as constructed in a manner so as to repre-
sent a rectangular section to the tire, and they represent the tire at T by red
lines, and show the manner in which it encircles and is supported by the series
of carrying rollers d, d.
The Drawings also show a guide and supporting roller S, carried by a
frame W, having an adjusting screw U, by which the roller may be moved
either towards or away from the series of carrying rollers, the position of the
said roller being as shown in Figure 3. Such roller S bears and rolls
against the outer periphery of the tire, and may or may not be used. Some-
times it may be employed to advantage.
By placing a key or a crank on the shaft f, and turning it, all the screws
ff, of the carrying roller carriages will be simultaneously put in revolution,
and so as to cause the said carriages and their rollers either to move away
from or be moved toward the shaft f, as circumstances may require. By
such means we have the opportunity of forcing the carrying rollers into close
contact with the inner periphery of the tire while being revolved by and
between the reducing rollers. The carrying rollers will operate therefore not
only to form the tire truly circular, but to roll and smooth its inner peripheral
surface. Furthermore, as the tire may increase in diameter, the holder or
frame G of the carrying rollers will be raised upward by the action of the
weight i, and thus the series of carrying rollers will be made concentric with
the tire in proportion as it may increase in diameter.
My machine has been found to operate to great advantage in the manufac-
ture of tires for railway wheels. By means of it their inner peripheries are
not only made truly circular, but they are so smoothly and exactly prepared as
to be ready at once, without further finishing, to be applied to wheels, and
thus all the usual labor and time generally expended in fixing the tire to
and being turned in a lathe is avoided by my Invention.
What therefore I claim is, the combination of a set of reducing rollers A, B,
a series of adjustable carrying rollers d, d, d, &c. (or their equivalents), and a
frame or holder G, supported so as to be capable of rising upwand within the
wheel tire in proportion as the diameter of the inner periphery of the said

page_text: tire may increase during the process of rolling the tire, and having the said.
carrying rollers arranged and made adjustable with respect to it and the
reducing rollers, in manner substantially as herein-before specified.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my signature and seal, this
Eighteenth day of February, in- the year of our Lord One thousand 5
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
NATHAN WASHBURN. (L.S.)