IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING THE JOURNALS OF THE AXLES OF RAILWAY VEHICLES OR OTHER MOVING PARTS OF MACHINERY
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Gedge, of No. 4, Wellington Street South,
Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING THE JOURNALS OF THE AXLES OF RAILWAY
VEHICLES OR OTHER MOVING PARTS OF MACHINERY,"-A communication from
A. Macpherson, of Brussels.
Sealed the 29th May 1857, and dated the 1st December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Gedge at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st December
1856.
I, JOHN GEDOE, of No. 4, Wellington Street South, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING THE JOURNALS OF THE AXLES OF RAILWAY
VEHICLES OR OTHER MOVING PARTS OF MACHINERY," communicated to me by
A. Macpherson, of Brussels, to be as follows:-
I propose to make a reservoir of iron or other suitable metal, which reser-
voir is to be filled with oil or other fluid. lubricating material.
Along the
bottom of the reservoir will pass a rod or shaft, having attached thereon one or
more brushes or elevations of caoutchouc, cotton, or other suitable material.
The end of the journal will be provided with a pin so placed as to gear into a
forked vertical piece furnished with a paul; this paul falls into the teeth or

page_text: cogs (seriatim) of a wheel, and as the axle turns the wheel is moved one cog
or moro at a time, and so the brushes are mado to act on the journal,
distributing the oil over its surface. With some modifications I propose to
apply the principle of the Invention to other moving parts of machinery
travelling on bearings.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Gedge in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th May 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GEDGE, of No. 4, Wellington Street South, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent, bearing date the. First day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the (twentieth) year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Godge, Her special licenso that I, the said John Gedge,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Gedge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
timo 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
LUBRICATING THE JOURNALS OF THE AXLES OF RAILWAY VEHICLES OR OTHER MOVING
PARTS OF MACHINERY," a communication from A. Macpherson, of Brussels, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Gedge, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their bands and seals, should particularly describo 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 I, the said John Gedge, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say -

page_text: The object of the Invention is to secure the lubrication of the journals of
the axles of railway vehicles by the use of oil or other liquid lubricating
material without the necessity of charging the entire hollow portion of the box
with oil (which nevertheless may be done if found desirable), but securing the
lubrication of said journals so long as any portion of the oil shall remain in
the reservoir, and fully preventing said oil from thickening or becoming semi-
solidified with some modification of little cost. The apparatus hereafter
described, may be employed in any of the axle boxes at present in use in railway
rolling stock, or to other moveable parts of machinery where such parts rest
in or on bearings requiring lubrication.
b
In the Drawing, Figure 1 shews a side elevation, in section, of an axle arm
or journal, oil cup, brush, and ratchet wheel; Figure 2 is an end view, shewing
a forked lever with pall attached, and eccentric pin on axle arm; Figure 3, an
end view of the interior of oil cup, shewing the pall and ratchet, with back
spring and end view of brushes. At Figure 2 it will be observed that on the
end of the journal or axle arm a a pin b is inserted at any convenient distance
from the centre, thereby obtaining an eccentric motion. This pin 6 gears and
works within a forked vertical lever c, having a stud pin or screw in the lower
part.
A pall d is attached to this lover on the side nearest the axle arm, and
a littlo below the fork of the lever. This pall takes into a ratchet wheel e,
which is fixed upon the same shaft as the lubricating brushes f.f. As the
journal revolves, the pin 6 will cause the lever c to oscilate, which motion
compels the pall d to bring the ratchet wheel over one (or more) of the teeth,
according to the greater or lesser distance of the pin 6 from the centre of the
end of the journal or axle arm, during which operation the brushes f will be
working at the same speed as the ratchet wheel e, impinging upon and lubri-
cating the whole length of the journal (as the brushes are made the same
length as the parts they are intended to lubricate) at every sixth or eighth
revolution thereof, and can be made to do so more or less in the manner above
stated as may be found desirable. The oil cup 9 is filled with oil or any fluid
lubricating material, which will, as before stated, be usable for lubrication till
exhausted so long as the ends of the brushes will reach it. It may be
preferred to substitute leather, felt, cotton, or other substance capable of lifting
oil either by adhesion or by capillary attraction; in such cases the frame (on
or in which the brushes are set) must be made proportionately wider, as the
above mentioned materials will not occupy the same space as the bristles.
Having now described the nature of the Invention communicated to me as
aforesaid, I would observe that I do not confine myself to the precise disposition
of the parts of tho apparatus shewn, or to the relative proportions of said parts

page_text: to each other, as such may be varied to suit particular cases, or for different
shafts moving in bearings..
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gedge, have hereunto set my
hand and affixed my seal, this Twenty-ninth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
W. E. GEDGE,
4, Danes Inn, Strand.
JOHN GEDGE. (L.8.)