IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS, AXLES, AXLE BOXES, AND THE BEARINGS OF CARRIAGES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Francis Reynolds and Jonathan
Aldous Mays, both of The Phantom Wheel Company, Limited,
9, Dock Street, Whitechapel, in the County of Middlesex, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS, AXLES, AXLE BOXES, AND
THE BEARINGS OF CARRIAGES."
Sealed the 17th November 1871, and dated the 18th May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Francis Rey-
nolds and Jonathan Aldous Mays at the Office of the Commis.
Bioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 18th May 1871.
We, WILLIAM FRANCIS REYNOLDS and JONATHAN ALDOUS MAYS,
both of The Phantom Wheel Company, Limited, 9, Dock Street, White-
chapel, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS, AXLES, AXLE BOXES, AND THE
BEARINGS OF CARRIAGES," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate to the making and fastening rubber tires
of wheels, and to the construction of wheels, axles, and axle boxes of
wheeled carriages.

page_text: Our improvements in wheels are in part founded upon those described
in the Specification of Letters Patent previously granted to us, and dated
April 21, 1869, numbered 1216, and relate to a better mode of making
and fastening the india-rubber tires used for such wheels and the use
of a metal rim of a trough shape in section, and to the securing of
the lower ends of suspending rods within the nave, stock, or hub of the
wheel, and the forming of the nave, stock, or hub, and to efficient and
easy modes of tightening up the suspending rods.
Our improvements in connexion with axles and axle boxes relate to
an improved mode of constructing the bearing of the axle and of
supplying oil or lubricating matter.
Our improvements in the tires of wheels are in part founded on those
described in the Specification of prior Letters Patent granted to us, and
dated October 19th 1870, numbered 2746.
In making and fastening our improved india-rubber tires according to
our present Invention, we propose to insert in the body of the rubber
tire and near to the base thereof nearest to the wheel, and, preferably,
prior to the same being vulcanized, a plate or strip, or plates or strips,
of perforated or other metal, or a strand or strands of metal either
straight, twisted, plaited, or woven, or such like body or bodies, such
plates or strips or strands being so inserted and provided with ends so
arranged that by means of screws or loops and wedge-shaped pins or
other similar contrivances the ends of tires may be forced or drawn
together so as to grip the rim of the wheel tightly and with considerable
force.
In some cases we attach to or near the ends of the metal base or
foundation inserted in the body of the rubber tire, as already referred to,
either before or after the vulcanizing of the rubber, screwed blocks, parts
of which shall extend beyond the base of the rubber. In the parts of
such blocks which shall so extend beyond the base of the rubber holes are
drilled and tapped with right and left handed screws in such a way that
the block at one end of a tire or part of a tire shall have a hole therein
with a right-hand threaded screw and the other end a block with a
left-hand threaded screw. A suitable recess or suitable recesses is or
are made or provided in the rim or periphery of the wheel to admit 3
of the recessing of these blocks beneath the surface, and the tire or parts
of a rubber tire so made being laid upon the periphery so that the
screwed blocks will be received by the recess or recesses;. a suitable screw.

page_text: or screws having a right-hand thread or threads at one end and left-
hand thread or threads at the other end or ends is or are inserted into
the screwed blocks. The turning of these screws will then draw the
ends of the tires or parts of the tires towards each other and force them
as closely together as may be requisite.
According to another contrivance or arrangement for connecting the
opposite end of such tires or parts of tires as are herein referred to we
may attach to the ends of the metallic body or bodies within the rubber
plates or flanges with sides extending beyond the ends of the tires, and
which flanges or sides may partly cover parts of the sides and the inner
part of the rim of the wheel, or part of either or both of such surfaces.
These flanges are pierced with suitable holes so that upon the flanged
plates attached to the opposite ends or parts of tires being made to
overlap each other a wedge or key, or wedges or keys, may be passed
or driven through all the holes therein and through a corresponding
hole or holes in the rim, and so that the driving in of such wedge or
key, or wedges or keys, shall draw the flanges end on tighter upon or
towards each other.
By another plan for connecting the ends of the tires or parts of the
tires projecting flanges, ears, or lugs may be attached to or near to
the ends of the metallic body or bodies within the rubber, so that the
inside faces of the flanges, ears, or lugs shall lay towards the side or
sides or the inner face of the rim of the wheel. The flanges, ears,
or lugs so attached to opposite ends of tires or parts of tires may be
then drawn towards each other (say by means of suitable cramps or
otherwise), and when properly drawn up they may be fastened to the
rim, say, by means of nails or screws, or they may be fastened or con-
nected the one to the other by means of straps or rivets, or by any
suitable fastening. These various contrivances are only referred to here
as indicative of a number of plans or arrangements, by means of which
we may effect our object of forcibly drawing into contact and retaining
in position the opposite ends of tires or parts of tires made according
to our Invention.
The insertion of the metallic body or bodies herein referred to within
the body and throughout the length of the rubber tire or part of a
tire will have the effect of preventing the lateral twisting or bending
of the rubber, and by the action of the drawing-up arrangements to be
attached or applied thereto the ends or parts of the tires may be drawn

page_text: and held together very tightly upon the periphery of the wheel without
stretching the rubber. Metal studs or pins may also be attached to
the periphery of the wheel before the placing on of the rubber tire,
so that when the operation of the fastening on of the tire shall be
completed the same shall have their points embedded in the base of the
rubber in such a way that the sides of the same shall press against the
sides of or of the interstices of the metallic body or bodies embedded
in the rubber in the direction of its length, and thereby prevent the
tire from moving in a lateral direction, and thus being worked from off
the periphery of the wheel.
In making rims of suspended wheels we propose to make the same
of strips or bands of steel or other suitable metal, brazed, forged, or
otherwise fastened together at their opposite ends, and so formed into
continuous hoops or belts, such strips or bands of metal being in the
first instance rolled or formed into a trough shape or U shape in cross
section; the concave part of the rim being turned outwards affords a
convenient bed for the india-rubber tire and possesses greater strength
combined with lightness than rims made in the usual way have hitherto
been found to possess. Suitable holes are made in the base or trough of
the rim for the fastening in of eyes, staples, or loops to which the sus-
pending rods of the wheel are hung, and the tops of such eyes, staples, or
loops may be so made as to take their bearing upon the base or inner
surface of the trough of the rim. The trough of such a rim will also
be suitable for receiving the right and left handed screws and blocks for
effecting the fastening on of the rubber tire already referred to.
In securing the lower ends of suspending rods of suspended wheels
within the nave, stock, or hub, we propose to make the nuts, which are
ordinarily screwed to the ends of the suspending rods, in the form of
circular discs, and to cog or convolute the edges thereof. The inner
surfaces of plates or cheeks of metal, which are to form parts of the
ends of the nave, stock, or hub, are cogged or convoluted in a similar
way, and they are so fitted that the turning round of the same in the
direction of the axis of the wheel shall have the effect of turning or
screwing up or down, as may be required, the cogged nuts upon the
ends of the suspending rods. The turning of the said plates convoluted
or cogged upon their inner surfaces is effected by means of a lever or
spanner made to be attached thereto in any suitable manner, or it may

page_text: be effected by means of a pinion attached to and forming part of the
stock, or which may be made attachable to the stock for that purpose.
According to another plan of fastening in and tightening up of the
suspending rods of wheels the faces of the screwed nuts upon the sus-
pending rods may be made to take their bearings upon the inner faces
of wedge-shaped metal rings, which when forced further inwards or
outwards lessen or increase, as may be desired, the diameter of the circle
within which the nuts of the suspending rods are held, and will
thereby tighten or slacken the tension of the suspension rods. The
forcing inwards or outwards of the said wedge-shaped metal rings is
effected by means of screws working in or against fixed parts of the
stock or nave, or by means of right and left handed screws working
between the wedge-shaped rings on either side of the stock or nave.
We propose to make axles and axle boxes in such a way that when
the wheel tends to run itself on upon the axle it shall take a lateral
bearing upon or abut against the extreme end of the axle instead of
upon the outside of the fixed collar or shoulder upon the axle as here-
tofore, and, preferably, we reduce the surface of such end bearing to
that of a stud or point. Where wheels are so made it is intended that
the wheels shall be retained upon the axle arms by means of fastenings
from the inside face of the fixed collar or shoulder upon the axle. The
reduction of the surface of the bearing may be effected by bringing the
end of the axle to a point, or by making a point or stud thereon,
and by making such point or stud to bear against a blind end of
the pipe box or nave of the wheel, as the case may be, or by making
or fitting a stud or point into or upon the inside face of a blind end of
the nave or pipe box, as the case may be, against which the end of
the axle will bear when the wheel tends to run itself further on upon
the axle.
We propose also to make the naves or the boxes of wheels with oil
reservoirs or chambers, surrounding or partly surrounding the pipe
boxes or sleeves, by coring out or by forming in the box or in the nave,
as the case may be, a space larger in part of its diameter than that
required for the fitting in of the pipe box or sleeve, and we propose to
make holes therefrom which shall admit the oil from such oil chamber
to the inside face of the loose collar, by means of which the wheel is
held upon the axle.

page_text: Where wheels are made to have a lateral bearing against the outside
face of the fixed collar or shoulder upon the axle we propose also to
make outlets or channels leading from the oil chamber or reservoir in
such a way as to ensure a proper supply of oil to and between the
lateral surfaces or bearings of the wheels and the axles.
The oil chamber or reservoir in the nave or box of the wheel. as the
Where wheels are made to have a lateral bearing against the outside
face of the fixed collar or shoulder upon the axle we propose also to
make outlets or channels leading from the oil chamber or reservoir in
such a way as to ensure a proper supply of oil to and between the
lateral surfaces or bearings of the wheels and the axles.
The oil chamber or reservoir in the nave or box of the wheel, as the
case may be, may be filled by means of a hole made in the outside of
the box or in the nave of the wheel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Francis Reynolds and Jonathan Aldous
Mays in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
FRANCIS REYNOLDS and JONATHAN ALDOUS MAYS, both of The Phantom
Wheel Company, Limited, 9, Dock Street, Whitechapel, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Francis Reynolds and Jonathan
Aldous Mays, Her special licence that we, the said William Francis
Reynolds and Jonathan Aldous Mays, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Francis Reynolds
and Jonathan Aldous Mays, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS, AXLES, AXLE BOXES, AND
THE BEARINGS OF CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said William Francis Reynolds and Jonathan Aldous Mays,
or one of us, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or one of our, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and

page_text: 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 William Francis Reynolds and
Jonathan Aldous Mays, do hereby declare the nature of our said In-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is
to say:
These improvements relate to the construction of wheels for carriages
and other vehicles, and to axles and axle boxes or bearing surfaces for
the same, or for wheels of other constructions.
The improvements in wheels mainly consists in a novel method of
securing rubber or rubber compound tires on to the rims, particularly
when such tires are made according to the method patented by us on
the 19th day of October 1870.
In the Specification of that Patent we described the tire as being
composed of rubber in which a strip or strips of metal (ring shaped, and
perforated or not) was imbedded, which tire was secured to the wheel
rim by nails driven into it from the outside, or by clip plates bent over
and screwed to the sides.
Now, according to our present Invention, we continue to embed one
or more metal strips of flat or other form in the rubber, but we leave
ends to the tire, and we fit or provide means of drawing the ends
together after the tire is placed upon the rim, so that it can be held
thereon in a secure manner and yet offer facilities for removal in cases
of repairs or other causes.
Some of the means we adopt are represented in Figures 1 to 6 of the
annexed Drawings, which will be clearly understood if taken in con-
nection into the following description:―
In Figure 1 a, a, represent the meeting ends of a rubber tire with
the strip of metal 6 embedded therein, as before referred to. The ends
of the strip are provided with blocks, lugs, or ears c, c, on their inner
faces, so that the ends of a right and left handed threaded rod or screw d
can be screwed into the blocks c, c, which are threaded for the purpose
to draw them nearer to one another until the meeting ends of the rubber.

page_text: are brought into contact to complete the circle or perfect continuity of the
treading surface. The central portion of the double-threaded rod is left
plain, and has a hole formed in it transversely to enable the point of a
key to be inserted to turn it by; the portion may, however, be left square
for a key to take over it if desired. Figure 2 is a modification of the
above; here the rod d is threaded at one end only, the opposite end
having a head 9 upon it, which finds an abutment against the outer
end of one of the blocks c. Figure 3 shows another mode by which
the ends of the tire can be drawn together; in this case the ends of the
strip are threaded so that a double-threaded collar / can be passed over
them and screwed up to draw them and consequently the edges of the
rubber tire into close contact, the rubber ends being recessed for the
reception of the nut. Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the Drawings represent
another plan or arrangement for effecting the drawing up of the ends
of tires, and this is accomplished by means of wedges passed into loops
on the ends of the strip, and then forced home by a hammer or other
appliance. Figure 4 is a plan and Figure 5 a side view of the ends of
perforated metal plates formed with loops a, a, for the reception of a
wedge b, or a wedge and a key, as in Figure 6, which represents the ends
of wires or strands of metal in lieu of strips. It will be seen that the
ends are differently shaped to those in Figures 4 and 5, but we do not
confine ourselves to those methods alone, as there are other modes of
preparing the ends, whether of the screw, rod, or the wedge character.
The insertion of the metallic body or bodies herein referred to within
the body and throughout the length of the rubber tire or part of a tire
will have the effect of preventing the lateral twisting or bending of the
rubber, and by the action of the drawing-up screw or screws, or key or
keys, to be attached or applied thereto, the ends or parts of the tires
may be drawn and held together very tightly upon the periphery of
the wheel,
The next part of our Invention consists in making axles with journals
of equal diameter from the shoulders to the tips, as represented in
Figure 8, so that the axle box shown in the same Figure, and which
forms the last part of our Invention, can be applied so that when the
wheel tends to run itself on upon the axle it takes a lateral bearing
upon or abuts against the extreme end of the axle instead of upon
the outside of the fixed collar or shoulder of the axle as heretofore, and,
preferably, we reduce the surface of such end bearing to that of a stud or

page_text: point. Where the axles and boxes of wheels are so made it is intended
that the wheels shall be retained upon the axle arms by means of
fastenings from the inside face of the fixed collar or shoulder upon the
axle. The reduction of the surface of the end bearing may be effected
by bringing the end of the axle to a point, or by making a point or stud
thereon, and by making such point or stud to bear against a blind end
of the pipe box or nave of the wheel, against which the end of the axle
will bear when the wheel tends to run itself further on upon the axle,
or a stud or point may be made to bear against the end of the axle
from the pipe box or nave, as the case may be.
In Figure 8 a represents a parallel journal; 6 a pipe box or sleeve;
c an outer jacket to the pipe box; da collar screwed to c for keeping
the wheel on the axle, it taking its bearing upon a leather washer g
behind the shoulder on the axle; e a screw, the end of which forms a
stud or point, and which takes the whole of the end bearing of the wheel
upon the axle; the running up of this screw also adjusts the wheel upon
the axle; is a lock nut for holding the screw e firmly in its proper
position; g is a passage for admitting lubricating liquid to the chamber h.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,―
Firstly. Fixing lengths of rubber in which metal strips are embedded
upon the rims of wheels to form tires by drawing the ends thereof
towards each other, and then securing them in place thereon, sub-
stantially as herein-before described.
Secondly. We claim the employment of screws for drawing together
the ends, and thereby holding rubber tires upon rims of wheels in the
manner herein-before described and shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the
Drawings annexed.
Thirdly. The use of wedges for the drawing together and holding of
rubber tires upon the rims of wheels, substantially as herein-before
described and shown in Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the Drawings.
Fourthly. The making the end or lateral bearings of wheels upon
their axles to be taken by the ends of the axle in place of by the collars
or shoulders thereof as heretofore, as herein-before described and shown.
Fifthly. We claim the employment of parallel journals on axles in
combination with sleeves and boxes in the naves of wheels, and the

page_text: appliances for preventing the lateral bearing thereof, as herein-before
described and shown in Figure 8 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Francis Reynolds and
Jonathan Aldous Mays, have hereunto set our hands and seals,
this Eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.