IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON- STRUCTION OF RAILWAY AXLES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Platt, of Padfield, near Manchester,
Cotton Spinner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF RAILWAY AXLES."
Sealed the 14th March 1871, and dated the 17th September 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Platt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th September 1870.
I, THOMAS PLATT, of Padfield, near Manchester, Cotton Spinner, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY AXLES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to prevent the breaking of railway
axles. In order to effect this I make the axle in two parts, one part
hollow and the other solid, the solid part passing through the hollow
part. One wheel is keyed on the hollow axle and the other on the solid
axle. The axles are kept in position lengthwise by a lock nut, or other
suitable contrivance.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Platt in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
PLATT, of Padfield, near Manchester, Cotton Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Platt, Her special licence that
I, the said Thomas Platt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas Platt, my 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 CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY
AXLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Platt, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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 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 Thomas Platt, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to prevent the breaking of railway
axles. In order to effect this I make the axle in two parts, one part
hollow and the other solid, the solid part passing through the hollow
part. One wheel is keyed on the hollow axle and the other on the solid
axle. The axles are kept in position lengthwise by a lock nut, or other
suitable contrivance.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Drawing which represents one of my improved railway axles in section.

page_text: The axle is made in two parts, the part marked a being hollow, and the
part solid; the solid part of the axle is supported near each end within
the hollow part, and an oil cup is applied at c to lubricate the larger
diameter of the solid axle, while the small end thereof is lubricated by
the grease for lubricating the journal of the hollow part of the axle.
The wheels a¹ and b¹ are keyed respectively on the hollow and solid
parts of the axle, and the two parts of the axle are connected lengthwise
by the lock nuts d, or in any other convenient manner. Compound
axles of the above construction prevent torsion, as each wheel is capable
of turning independently of the other, whereas when both wheels are
fixed to the same axle torsion is unavoidable in passing over a curve.
My improved compound axles are also less liable to break than those
made solid as now customary, because the sudden shocks on the wheels
produced by the irregularity in the laying of the rails are in my improved
axles distributed from each wheel to the end of its axle where it passes
off without injuring the axle; whereas when both wheels are fixed to
the same axle the vibration produced by the shocks on the wheels
is arrested at the inner bosses of the wheels, and at those points injures
the fibre until the axle becomes liable to break.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention and described the
manner of performing the same, I'declare that I claim making railway
axles in two parts in the manner and for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Platt, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of March One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-one.