IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WHEELS FOR CARRIAGES AND ENGINES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Apperly, Cloth Manufacturer, and William
Clissold, Engineer, both of Dudbridge, in the County of Gloucester, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WHEELS FOR
CARRIAGES AND ENGINES."
Sealed the 20th December 1859, and dated the 22nd June 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Apperly and
William Clissold at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 22nd June 1859.
We, JAMES APPERLY, Cloth Manufacturer, and WILLIAM CLISSOLD, Engineer,
both of Dudbridge, in the County of Gloucester, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WHEELS FOR
CARRIAGES AND ENGINES," to be as follows:-
traction or propulsion of
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the
carriages on common roads and irregular ground. This we propose to effect
by applying to the periphery of the travelling wheels of carriages and traction
engines bearing surfaces, which as the pressure of the rolling wheel is brought
upon them, will arrange themselves on the ground, so as to form a com-
paratively even bed for the wheel to roll over. These bearing surfaces we
form either of links rivetted together and constituting an endless chain, which
is let into a grooved periphery, or we use detached pieces which are held in
place by being let into an annular groove formed in the periphery of the
wheel, & furnished with overlapping lips. Between these bearing surfaces

page_text: and the tyre of the wheel we place a ring of vulcanized india-rubber or an
equivalent elastic bed, which will yield as pressure is put upon it by tho
rolling wheel, and will thereby allow the bearing surfaces to arrange them-
selves in succession in a line upon the ground.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Apperly and William Clissold in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 22nd December 1859.
ก
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
APPERLY, Cloth Manufacturer, and-WILLIAM-GLISSOLD, Engineer,-both-of
Dudbridge, in the County of Gloucester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said James Apperly and William Clissold, Her special license that we, the
said James Apperly and William Clissold, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others (as we, the said James Apperly and William
Clissold, our 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 THE MANU-
FACTURE OF WHEELS FOR CARRIAGES AND ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said James Apperly and William Clissold, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us, 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 we, the said James Apperly and William Clissold,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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 Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say)-
This Invention relates to certain means whereby the traction or propulsion

page_text: of carriages on common roads and irregular ground may be facilitated, and
their progress rendered comparatively noiseless. These advantages we attain
by applying to the periphery of each of the travelling wheels of carriages and
traction engines bearing surfaces, which as the pressure of the rolling wheel is
brought upon them, will arrange themselves on the ground, so as to form a
comparatively even bed for the wheel to roll over. These bearing surfaces we
form either of links rivetted together and constituting an endless chain, which
is let into the grooved periphery of the wheel; or we use detached pieces
which are held in place by being let into a groove furnished with overlapping
lips. Between these bearing surfaces and the tyre of the wheel we place a
ring of vulcanized india-rubber or an equivalent elastic bed, which will yield
as pressure is put upon it by the rolling wheel, and will thereby allow the
bearing surfaces to arrange themselves in succession upon the ground.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in side elevation a wheel fitted
according to one arrangement of our Invention, a portion of the side of the
wheel being removed, the better to explain the Invention; and Fig. 2 is a
cross section of the tyre of the wheel, shewing the mode of fitting the bearing
surface thereto.
a, a, is the tyre of the wheel formed with projecting parallel flanges, which
constitute a grooved periphery or an annular trough. In this trough we place
a belt or ring of vulcanized india-rubber b, b, which forms a cushion for an
endless chain c, c. This chain we form, by preference, of four rows of flat
links rivetted together, as shewn at Fig. 3. The depth of the elastic cushion
and the chain are such with respect to that of the trough or annular groove
in which they lie, as to ensure the proper projection of the endless bearing
surface outwards from the tyre of the wheel, so that it may always take the
pressure of the load and keep the tyre clear of the ground. The Invention
may be readily applied to existing carriage wheels, by substituting a troughed
tyre for the ordinary hooped tyre, and thus ordinary carriage wheels may be
converted into silent or noiseless wheels.
Fig. 4 shews in side elevation (partly in section) a modification of our
Invention. In this example the trough tyre a is made with overlapping
flanges or lips for securing in position detached metallic bearing blocks c, c.
The elastic cushion b, b, is laid in the trough, as before explained, and the
bearing blocks c, c, are furnished at their lower elges with shoulders which
underlie the overlapping lips of the tyre, as shewn in Fig. 5. In both
examples it will be seen that the wheel will present a comparatively large
bearing surface to the ground (equal in the one case to the length of the links
and in the other to the length of the metallic blocks), by reason of the india-
t

page_text: rubber cushion yielding to the pressure of the load, and thus the little irre-
gularities in the ground, which carriage wheels constantly meet even on the
best roads, will be in a great measure bridged over, and smooth running
secured while over soft ground; the extended bearing surface thus secured
will considerably facilitate the traction of wheel carriages and agricultural or
portable engines.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of improvements in the
manufacture of wheels for carriages and engines, and explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent we lay no claim to the principle-of-
applying to wheels bard bearing surfaces cushioned in an elastic material
irrespective of the mode herein set forth, but what we claim as our Invention
is the manufacture of wheels for carriages and engines in the manner and for
the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Apperly and William Clissold,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twentieth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
Alfred SMITH,
of Cainscross,
N' Stroud, Glostershire.
(L.B.)
WILLIAM CLISSOLD. (L.s.)