Improvements in the Manufacture of Wheels for Railway Purposes.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Jan., 1887.
Specification Accepted, 11th Feb., 1887.
[Communicated from abroad by JOHN W. CLOUD, of Altoona, Pennsylvania, Unite
States of America.]
Improvements in the Manufacture of Wheels for Railway Purposes.
HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co. Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be perforined, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to wheels for locomotives, railway and other vehicles, and in
which the tyres are made separate from the wheel centres.
The object of the said invention is to provide a device which will hold a wheel tyre
in place and prevent it from falling or becoming separated from the wheel centre even
should it become loose or he broken.
My invention also enables me to dispense with the use of bolts as a means of
securing the tyre in place.
In the accompanying drawing which illustrates my invention,
Figure 1 is a section through the rim of a wheel.
Figure 2 is a central section of the same wheel, and
Figure 3 is a front view of the same.
Figures 4, 5 and 6, are similar views of a wheel having a slightly modified
construction.
Figures 7, 8 and 9 are similar views of another modified construction of wheel;
and
Figures 10 and 11 are sectional views of a wheel having another modification.
A is the wheel tyre and B the wheel centre.
I Price Sd i

page_text: C is an intermediate plate (preferably made in one piece but which need not
necessarily be joined at its ends ;) which is inserted between the tyre and the rim of
the wheel centre before the tyre is shrunk on, and is firmly clamped between them by
the contraction of the tyre. This plate C is made broader than the contact surfaces
of the tyre and wheel centre, so that it may be bent over one or both of them to clamp
them together. As shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, the tyre is recessed at a a on both
sides of its inner contact surface and the edges b,b of the wheel centre B also receed
at an acute angle to its contact surface. The plate C is notched at both edges, and
after it is clamped between the tyre and wheel centre the sections c of its notched rin
are hammered, pressed or rolled over so that they engage in the recesses a a of the
tyre while the sections care similarly bent over the edges b, b of the wheel centre.
In figures 4, 5 and 6, is illustrated a very similar construction; the only difference
being that a second plate is secured to the plate by rivets D or otherwise, the
double plate being clamped between the tyre and wheel centre, the edges of the
inner one are bent over the edges of the wheel centre.
In Figures 7, 8 and 9, the tyre is represented as having an inwardly projecting
flange a with a projecting edge between which and the inwardly running edge b of
the wheel centre, the outer edge of the plate C is clamped. The inner edge of
plate C, is notched as in Figure 1 and the alternate sections e and e' turned, the first
over the edge a of the tyre and the latter over the edge b, of the wheel centre.
In Figures 10 and 11, the wheel centre B is shown as having an annular depression 62
running around its outer surface and the plate C has a corresponding ridge c³ which
fits into it and by which the plate Cis, efficiently prevented from slipping off the
wheel centre or the depression may be in the plate C, and the ridge on the wheel
centre. This danger being provided against, it is not essential that the plate C should
clamp the wheel-centre at its edges, and both of its projecting edges may be turned
up to clamp the tyre as shown at c c.
As will be at once recognized, all of these modes of construction, are practically the
same in effect, the object being to hold the tyre and wheel centre together at all points
so that the tyre cannot escape or become displaced should it become loose or even
should it break in two or more places.
As I have already pointed out, my intermediate metal strips perform the double
function of preventing the tyre from slipping laterally on the wheel centre and of
preventing it from moving radially away from it when fractured; and it is of course
evident that lateral slipping may be provided against by turning the flanges of the
interposed plate or plates to an angle of not less than ninety degrees or by ridges
like which construction would not afford any security against the tendency of the
tyre to fly away from its centre in case of fracture.
I
am aware that it has been suggested that lateral slipping of a wagon wheel tyre
could be prevented by inserting little metal plates between the tyre and its felly, after
the tyre has been shrunk on, slots being cut in the felly to permit their insertion, and
then turning little metal prongs at the ends of the plates in opposite directions and at
right angles to the plane of the plates; but by my plan of securing the interposed
plates between tyre and wheel centre by the shrinking of the tyre, I avoid the
necessity of cutting slots in the wheel centre with the inevitable result of weakening
the wheel, and produce a wheel with more than the usual strength and solidity instead
of less as would be the case by the plan suggested.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent I declare that what I claim is.
First A wheel having a tyre and wheel centre as described, and provided with one
or more strips of metal clamped between the tyre and wheel centre by the contraction
of the tyre, and having its edges bent over on the sides of the wheel so as to engage

page_text: with the tyre and prevent it from slipping laterally on its centre, substantially as
shown and described.
Second A wheel having a tyre and wheel centre as described, and provided with
one or more strips of metal clamped between the tyre and wheel centre by the con-
traction of the tyre, and having its edges bent over on the sides of the wheel so as to
engage with recessed flanges on the tyre and prevent it from slipping laterally or
flying radially away from the wheel centre, substantially as shown and described.
Third A wheel having a tyre and wheel centre as described, and provided with one
or more strips of metal clamped between the tyre and centre and having its edges
bent over on the sides of the wheel so as to engage with recessed flanges on the tyre
and on the wheel centre, and prevent the tyre from slipping or flying away from the
wheel centre, substantially as shown and described.
Fourth The process of manufacturing wheels which consists in inserting between
the wheel centre and the tyre, a plate or plates of metal broader than the contact
surfaces of the tyre and centre, clamping said plate between the wheel centre and the
tyre by the contraction of the tyre, and then bending the projecting edges of said
plate so as to engage with the tyre and clamp it to the centre, substantially as, and for
the purpose specified.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.