IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS FOR CARRIAGES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
PARLBY, of Rutland Gate, Knightsbridge, in the County of Middlesex, retired
Major of the Bengal Artillery, send greeting.
WHEREAS I did by petition humbly represent unto Her present most
Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria that I had invented "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS FOR CARRIAGES," and Her said Majesty, being
willing to give encouragement to all arts and inventions which may be for the
public good, was graciously pleased, by Her Royal Letters Patent under the
Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing
date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of December (One thousand eight
hundred and forty-three), in the seventh year of Her reign, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, to give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Parlby,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I or they, by myself or themselves, or by
my or their deputies, servants, and agents, or such others as I or they should
agree with (and no others), during the term of fourteen years from the date of
the said Letters Patent, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend
my said Invention within that part of Her said Majesty's Dominions called
England, Her Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all
Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, in such manner as to me, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, shall seem meet, and as that I or they
shall enjoy the whole profit and advantage arising by reason of my 'said

page_text: Invention during the said term of fourteen years; and for that end Her said
Majesty requires and strictly commands all Her subjects whatsoever within
England, Wales, and Berwick, and the Islands and Colonies aforesaid, that
they shall not, neither directly or indirectly, make, use, or put in practice my
said Invention, or any part thereof, nor in anywise counterfeit, imitate, or
resemble the same, nor make any addition thereto or substraction therefrom,
whereby to pretend himself or themselves to be the inventor or inventors
thereof: And whereas the said Letters Patent contain a proviso, obliging
me, the said Samuel Parlby, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by
the same (reference being thereunto had) will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Parlby, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described and
ascertained in manner following, and by the aid of the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The several Figures in the said Drawing represent wheels for carriages
constructed according to my said improvements, and after describing the said
Figures I will at the end of this Specification set forth the particulars of the
new Invention to which I make claim.
As to the central part of the wheel instead of being formed by what
is commonly called a nave, with mortises, and the spokes fixed into those
mortises, I form the said central part chiefly by means of the spokes of the
wheel, applied one in. contact with another, edge to edge, for a short portion
of their lengths at their innermost ends, which are nearest to the centre
of the wheel, one edge of such inner end of each spoke being cut obliquely,
with a suitable bevil or angle in respect of the other edge, of the same
spoke, as is shewn in Figure 3, in order that the several spokes may fit
correctly together, edge to edge, at their said inner ends with the said bevil
edge of one spoke in contact with that edge of the next adjacent spoke,
bich is not bevil, so as that the said inner ends of the whole number of the
spokes will fill up the central part of the wheel solid with the wood of the
spokes, in the manner shewn at the central parts of Figures 6, 13, and 15,
and the said inner ends of all the spokes which are so fitted and brought in
contact are secured laterally between two circular iron plates or discs shewn
separate in Figure 4, one of which plates or discs is applied and fitted to each
side of the central part of the wheel, so as to cover over the lateral sur-

page_text: faces of those inner ends of all the several spokes, which, as before mentioned,
are brought in contact one with another, edge to edge, in order to constitute
the solid central part of the wheel, and the said two plates or discs with the
spokes between them are secured by a series of iron pins inserted into holes
perforated through the thickness of each of the said discs or plates near. to
their circumferences, as shewn in Figure 4, the number of such pins being
the same as the number of spokes, and each of the said pins passes through
the whole thickness of the two plates or discs, and through the thickness of
the wood of the spokes, which wood is included between those two plates or
discs, as is shewn at Figures 14 and 16. There is at least one such pin so
inserted for each spoke, and the ends of all the said pins are made fast, either
by rivetting those ends into the holes in the plates or discs, or else by nuts
screwed on the ends of the pins, which may in such case have heads at the
opposite end of each pin to that end thereof whereon the nut is screwed, in
the manner of small screw bolts; or else each of the said pins may have a
head at one end and a screw. formed on the other end to screw into the holes
of one of the circles or discs when the head and the pin is turned round in the
manner of a screw pin. The centres of the iron plates or discs are perforated,
as shewn in Figure 4, with holes, suitably formed for inserting and fastening
therein the hollow box of the wheel, which is fitted to receive. the axle arm
around which the wheel is to revolve when in use; and the wood of. the inner-
most and of each spoke conforming with the central holes through the
plates or discs, the said ends will come in contact with and bear firmly around
the exterior circumference of the box when the same is inserted and fastened
in its place in the central holes of the two discs, as is shewn in Fig. 7; or in
cases of wheels which are to be firmly fastened on their, axles so as to revolve
therewith, the central holes of the plates or discs and the innermost ends of,
the spokes must be suitably formed for inserting and fastening the said axle in
those central holes, in the same manner as already stated in respect to fastening.
the hollow box aforesaid. Or in such cases as aforesaid of. wheels to be.
fastened on their axles, one of the said two iron circles, or discs may have a
central socket or tube projecting far enough out from one of its surfaces around
its central hole for enabling such socket, or tube to reach through the central
part of the wheel all across the thickness of the wood of the spokes, and so.
much further as to enter into and just through the central hole of the other.
circle or disc, which must have no such central socket or tube as aforesaid,
but only a central hole, which hole must be large enough to receive the out-
side of the said central socket or tube of the first-mentioned circle or disc..
The wood of the innermost ends of all the spokes will come in contact with

page_text: and bear firmly around the exterior circumference of the said socket or tube,
and the central hollow of the said socket or tube must be suitably formed for
inserting and fastening the axle therein. And as to the circumference or rim
of the wheel, instead of the same being made of wood in the usual manner,
with the grain thereof nearly in the direction of the circumference, and that
wood surrounded on its edge with what is commonly called a tire, which is a
hoop of iron bended flatways to the circular form, and applied and fastened
around the exterior edge of the circumference of the wood rim of the wheel,
either in several pieces of iron tire called streaks, or else in one continued ring
or hoop, I form the circumference or rim of the wheel chiefly by means of two
flat circular rings of iron, whereof one is shewn in Figure 5; the flat iron
from which such rings are made being bended edgeways to the circular form,
and the two rings, which may be termed lateral rings, are applied around the
outer ends of the several spokes, one such lateral ring at each side of the said
ends, which may be cut thinner where they are to be included between the said
rings, so as to leave small shoulders of wood near to the ends of the spokes at
each side of each spoke suitably for fitting into and sustaining the interior cir-
cumstances of the two iron rings, and the rings and spokes are united by cross
pins inserted through the two rings and through the wood at the ends of the
spokes, which ends are included between the two rings, one such pin for each
spoke, and the remaining space between the two iron rings which is not occupied
by the ends of the spokes is filled up solid from the end of one spoke to
the end of the next adjacent spoke by one or more segment pieces of hard
wood, formed like the keystones of an arch; those surfaces of the said segments
which come in contact one with another when the segments are in place
between the two iron rings and between the ends of the spokes being in a
direction towards the centre of the wheel, or nearly so, and the grain of the
wood whereof the said segments are formed being with the lengthway of that
grain in a direction towards the centre of the wheel, or nearly so, and the
said segments being accurately fitted to their respective places, as is shewn in
Figure 6, are all forced in towards the centre of the wheel at the same time,
until they all acquire a very firm bearing one against another and against the
ends of the spokes, in the same manner as the keystones of an arch bear one
against another, and mutually concur in retaining one another in their circle
or arch; and the several segment pieces are then secured by cross pins inserted
through the two iron rings and through the wood of the segments with at
least one such pin for each segment, as is shewn in Figure 7 and the ends of
the said cross pins, as well as those of the cross pins, before mentioned, through
the ends of the spokes, are all firmly rivetted or otherwise securely fastened as

page_text: before described, the wood of the extreme ends of the spokes and the wood
of the exterior parts of the segments form the exterior circumference of the
wheel, the direction of the lengthway of the grain of the wood being from
the centre of the wheel towards that circumference, so that the ends of the
fibres of the wood will form the surface at the exterior circumference of the
wheel; that exterior circumference of the wood may be larger than the
exterior circumference of the two iron rings in which case the wood will bear
upon the surface of the road when the wheel is in use, presenting the ends of
the fibres of the wood to that surface, and the iron rings will not touch that
surface; or the wood may be of the same size as the exterior of the iron rings,
in which case the wood and the edges of the iron rings conjointly will bear on
the surface of the road; or for wheels for railways the exterior circumference
of one of the two iron rings may be somewhat smaller in diameter than the
exterior circumference of the wood, and the exterior circumference of the
other of the said two iron rings may be considerably larger than that of the
wood, so as to form a prominent border of iron all round one side of the wheel
beyond the wood, which border may serve as a flange to the wheel suitable for
running upon railways, and the exterior circumference of the wood will bear
upon the edge of the rail, presenting the ends of the fibres of wood to the rail
when the wheel is in use. The exterior circumference of the wood may if
preferred be hooped or surrounded with an iron tire of the usual kind in
addition to the two flat iron rings, before mentioned, as is shewn in Figures 13
and 14, and in such case the segments of wood which fill up the spaces between
those two rings in the intervals between the ends of the spokes may be formed
with the lengthway of the grain of the wood in the direction of the circum-
ference of the wheel, or nearly in that direction; or instead of the segments of
hard wood herein-before mentioned, such segments may be made of layers of
strong leather, or of felt, or other elastic substance, cemented and compressed
together with great force in suitable moulds of the proper size and form, so as
to render the elastic substance sufficiently united and hard and of proper size
and form to be used for such segments instead of wood.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING MORE IN DETAIL.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 explain the manner of cutting out two of the spokes
for the wheel from one piece of straight-grained-wood, the length of which
is somewhat less than half the full diameter of the intended wheel;
Figure 1 shews the edge of the said piece of wood, which must be of a
thickness sufficient for the thickness that the spokes are intended to have at
the central part of the wheel, measuring that thickness in a direction at right

page_text: angles to the plane of the rim of the wheel, or in a direction parallel to the length
of the axle of the wheel. Figure 2 shews the flat surface of the same piece of
wood, the breadth of which is somewhat more than double the intended breadth
of the spokes at the places where the edges of the several spokes begin to
*separate from contact one with another. The dotted lines upon Figure 2 shew
the direction in which the piece of wood is to be divided by one straight saw cut,
extending obliquely from one end of the piece of wood to the other, so as to
form the two spokes, the broad end of one of those two being obtained from
the same end of the piece of wood as the narrow end of the other, of the said
two spokes, and then by two other short straight saw cuts in oblique directions
at the broad ends of the two spokes, as shewn by dotted lines in Figure 2; each
of the two spokes will become bevelled at one edge of its innermost end
without being bevelled at the opposite edge of that end, as is shewn in Figure 3,
and, provided the sawing has been truly performed (as may be done by a
circular saw or other well-known sawing machinery), the said innermost ends
of a number of such spokes will be ready for putting together, in the manner
shewn at the central part of Figure 6; or if there are any inaccuracies in the
surfaces left by the sawing at the innermost ends of the spokes, the said
surfaces must be made true by usual and well-known means, so that the
edges of the inner ends of the spokes will fit true one to another.
Figure 4 represents the two iron circles or discs, which are to be applied at
each side of the central part of the wheel so as to cover over as much of the
inner ends of the series of spokes as are in contact, in the manner shewn in
Figures 6 and 7, also 13 and 14 and 15 and 16; but in Figures 6, 13, and 15
the iron circle or disc is represented as broken and with one half removed, in
order to shew the inner ends of the spokes at the central part of the wheel.
The holes for the cross pins, by which the central part of the wheel is to be
secured, are shewn in Figure 4 with one pin for each spoke of the wheel,
and the application of the cross pins in the manner of rivetted pins is
shewn at Figure 14; they are rivetted at each end of each pin into the
holes of the two circles or discs, Figure 4; or the application of the cross
pins in the manner of screw bolts is shewn at Figure 7, with a nut
screwed on one end of each and a head on the other end; or the application
of the cross pins in the manner of screw pins is shewn at Figure 16,
each pin having a head at one end, by which it can be turned round, and the
other end being formed with a screw thread to screw into one of the holes at
the circumference of one of the plates or discs, Figure 4. As to the box for
such wheels, that is to say, the hollow box, which is fitted to receive the axle
arm around which the wheel is to revolve when in use, the said box may be

page_text: constructed in any of the various ways in common use for the boxes for ordinary
wheels, such hollow box being firmly fastened into the central holes of the
circular plates or discs, Figure 4, by means of keys or wedges, fitted partly into
notches or key ways cut out from the interiors of the said central holes of the
plates or discs, Figure 4, and partly into corresponding notches or key ways 'cut
out of the exterior of the box. The keys or wedges being driven into the com-
pound notches or key ways will fasten the box firmly into the central holes of the
plates or discs, Figure 4, at its intended place at the centre of the wheel. The
wood of the innermost ends of the several spokes is to be cut by suitable means
to an exact conformity with the central holes of the two plates or discs, Figure 4,
after those plates or discs and the spokes between them have been secured by
the cross pins, and then the said innermost ends of the spokes will all bear
with close contact against the exterior circumference of the box when the box
is inserted and fastened into its place at the centre of the wheel; or the box
may be made with a flange projecting around it, in order to apply against and
fasten to the flat surface around the central hole of one of the plates or discs,
Figure 4, for greater security of fastening the box firmly and truly in its
intended place at the centre of the wheel. But although ordinary kinds of
boxes may be used if the same are provided with key ways, or a flange, or
both, as herein-before mentioned, nevertheless I recommend by preference an
improved box, represented in Figures 7 to 12, which I have invented for the
purpose of being used in my wheels, but to which improved box I do not make
any exclusive claim under the Letters Patent herein-before recited, because
I had not invented the said improved box until after I had petitioned Her
Majesty to grant me the said Letters Patent.
In Figure 7 the said improved box is shewn in section as it would
appear when fastened in its place at the centre of the wheel, and Figure
10 is a similar section of the box separately. Figure 12 is an external
view, corresponding with Figure 10. Figure 8 is the axle arm formed at
the end of the axletree. The bearing part of the axle arm is cylindrical,
and is truly fitted to the cylindrical hollow in the box. A part of the
cylindrical axle arm may be slightly reduced in size, as shewn in Figure 8,
in order to reduce the extent of bearing surface, and to enable the oil in the
box to distribute itself. The extreme end of the axle arm is convex to apply
to the end of the hollow in the box, that end being the interior of a hemi-
spherical oil cavity within a hemisphere which forms the end of the box, and
which hemisphere occupies the central part of the wheel at the outside from
the carriage, as shewn in Figure 7. The flat surface of the hemisphere
projects around the box like a flange, and applies against the flat surface of

page_text: one of the circular plates or discs, Figure 4, around the central hole thereof.
There is no nut or linch pin on the end of the axle arm to retain the box and
the wheel from coming off, as is the case in ordinary axle arms; but instead
thereof, the axle arm has its shoulder at the inner end, formed like a prominent
circular flange around the axletree, which flange is received within a corre-
'sponding hollow at the inner end of the box, so that a part of the interior of
the said hollow will apply behind, and fit close to the flat surface of the flange
at the back thereof, furthest from the wheel, and thereby retain the box and
the wheel from coming off the axle arm around which they revolve. The
aforesaid hollow at the inner end of the box is made within a piece of metal
distinct from the box, as is shewn separate at Figure 9, but which is screwed
fast upon the inner end of the box, so as to be united like one piece therewith.
When in use for this purpose an exterior screw thread is cut around the box
at the inner end thereof, and a corresponding interior screw thread is cut within
the hollow piece, Figure 9, and the latter is screwed fast upon the former, as
shewn in Figures 7 and 10, and to prevent any chance of unscrewing two
small screws may be inserted laterally in a direction pointing to the centre, as
as shewn in those Figures. The interior screw thread in the hollow of
Figure 9 should be large enough to pass over the prominent flange of the
shoulder of the axle arm, Figure 8, but the other opening in Figure 9,
farthest from the wheel, must so much smaller than the flanged shoulder as to
apply behind and fit close to the flat surface of the flange at the back thereof;
in order to retain the box from coming off the axle arm. But in case it is not
convenient to have the interior screw thread in Figure 9 so large as to go
over the prominent flange of Figure 8, then the hollow piece, Figure 9, may be
made in two halves, put together laterally, those two halves being united by a
broad, circular hoop of iron, surrounding that part of Figure 9 within which
the interior screw thread is cut (and which part is in two halves), and the
small lateral screws before mentioned passing through that hoop, as well as
into and through the parts of Figure 9 which are within the hoop, the two
halves of Figure 9 become united together and to the box, Figure 10, like one
piece. The said two halves of Figure 9 will never require to be separated,
except in the first instance, in order to get the prominent flange of the axle arm,
Figure 8, into the hollow which is provided for it in the interior of Figure 9,
and then the two halves may be securely united by their loop before-mentioned,
and the interior screw thread of Figure 9 may be screwed on to or off from
the exterior thread of the box in the same manner as if Figure 9 were in one
piece instead of being in two halves. That part of the box which fits into
the central hole of the outermost of the two plates or discs, Figure 4, has four

page_text: small projecting pieces upon it, as shewn in Figure 12, to fit into the four
notches or keyways which are cut out in the said central hole, and when the
hollow piece, Figure 9, is screwed in its place upon the inner end of the box
it fastens the box securely into the wheel. The cavity within the hemisphere
at the outer end of the box is filled with oil, and in order to render the
whole of that oil available to the last drop, there should be small prominences
within the said hemispherical oil cavity, which, when the wheel and box
are revolving, will carry up all the oil there may be remaining at the
lower part of that cavity, and the oil so carried up will be poured down upon
the end of the axle arm, where it comes through into that hemispherical
cavity. The oil may be introduced into the oil cavity through a small hole,
which is afterwards closed by a screw plug stopper, and by opening the same
the supply of oil may be replenished when required without taking any other
parts asunder. The hemispherical end of the box, which forms the central
part at the outside of the wheel, may be ornamented, and its form is well
adapted to avoid injury and entanglement in case of coming accidentally in
contact with other carriages or any other obstacles.
Figure 13 and 14 shew how the interior circumference of a wheel, which in
other respects is constructed as already described in respect to Figures 6 and 7,
may have that exterior circumference hooped or surrounded with an iron tire
of the usual kind as in ordinary wheels, that is tire formed of iron bended
flatways, and applied either in segments or portions termed streaks, or else in one
continuous hoop, or circle, or tire,' with a projecting flange on one side in case of
wheels for railways, as is usual for the tires of such wheels; the said tier on the
exterior circumference being an addition to the two lateral rings of iron around
the rim of the wheel at each side thereof, as herein-before described, and as
represented in Figures 13 and 14, and the ends of all the spokes are included
between and fastened to the said two lateral rings; and in case of tire being
so used, the segments of wood, which are to be inserted between the two lateral
rings in order to fill up the intervals between the end of one spoke and the end
of the next adjacent spoke, may be made with the lengthway of the grain of the
wood, nearly in the direction of the circumference of the wheel, with only one
such segment to fill up the interval between the ends of every two adjacent spokes.
Figures 15, 16, and 17 represent a wheel wherein the ends of the spokes
do not extend so far out from the centre as to reach quite through the rim of
the wheel to the exterior circumference thereof, as is the case in the other'
wheels herein-before described, although in other respects the wheel, Figures'
15, 16, and 17, is the same as those herein-before described. The ends of the
several spokes are fitted with shoes of iron plate, bended, as shewn in Figure 17,

page_text: so as to fit upon the ends of the spokes, and each shoe is fastened thereon by
a cross pin, and there are lateral projections from those shoes at each side to
apply to the interiors of the lateral rings and unite the spokes therewith, in the
same manner and for the same purpose as shoulders near to the ends of the
spokes would do, as herein-before described, but such shoulders require the
spokes to be thicker at their ends than the thickness of the rim of the wheel;
but the mode now describing, Figures 15, 16, 17, admits of the rim of the
wheel being thicker than the ends of the spokes, because the iron shoes reach
out laterally from the ends of the spokes to the two lateral iron rings, so as to
connect those parts together without any actual contact of the said parts. The
segments which fill up the intervals between the ends of the adjacent spokes are
fitted to the iron shoes at the end of the spokes, so as to reach over the shoes,
in order to join one segment to another beyond the ends of the iron shoes, and
therefore the segments from the whole of the exterior circumference of the
wheel and the ends of the spokes do not form any part of that circumference.
The said mode of forming the segments is most applicable in cases when the
segments are formed of leather, or felt, or other elastic material compressed,
as herein-before mentioned, because the whole of the exterior circumference
will be of the same material (whatever it may be) without being intermixed
with the wood of the ends of the spokes. And the wood whereof the spokes
and segments of my wheels are made may be compressed by mechanical force
into moulds of suitable forms, so as to reduce the wood to its smallest bulk
before the wheels are put together, and thereby avoid the future shrinkage of
the wood. Or the wood (and particularly the wood for the segments may be
boiled in drying linseed oil, and heated therein up to a temprature of about
two hundred degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, and afterwards left to cool
in the same oil, whereby so much thereof will be absorbed by the wood as to
render the same less liable to shrink or be affected by weather. Note.-The
spokes of the wheels herein-before described are straight on one side, so as to
render the wheel flat on that side, the rim and the spokes forming one plane,
and that should be the outer side of the wheel farthest from the carriage,
as is represented in Figure 7. The spokes are thicker at the central part
of the wheel than they are at the rim, so as to render the wheel
convex at that side which is nearest to the carriage. The additional
thickness of the spokes at the central part. of the wheel gives strength. In
cases of driving wheels for locomotive engines on railways, or for steam
coaches to travel on common roads, which driving wheels are impelled or
turned round by the power of steam engines applied to the central axes of the
wheels, at the same time that the wheels have to sustain the weight of the

page_text: engine or coach, or part of that weight, such wheels require great strength,
and may be made with two sets of spokes, of the kind herein-before described;
one set placed by the side of the other set, the spokes of the two sets being in
close contact, and both sets being secured between the same two circular iron
plates or dises, such as Figure 4, by one set of cross pins, or screw bolts, or
screws, inserted through both the said plates or discs, and through the thick-
nesses of the wood of both sets of spokes which are included between those
plates or discs, each set of the said spokes being put together with the
innermost ends of the several spokes of that set in contact, edge to edge, for
forming the solid central part of the wheel, in the manner already explained,
and as represented in Figure 6; but which solid part will consist of two
thicknesses in the case now describing, and the spokes of one set should be
reversed to those of the other set as regards the directions of their bevil edges
respectively, that is to say, those edges of the several spokes of one set which
are not bevilled will go foremost whilst the wheel is turning round, but at the
same time the bevil edges of the spokes of the other set will go foremost.
The several spokes of the two sets are applied one to the other, side by side,
with those sides of each set which form a flat surface or plane in close
contact, that is, the flat sides of each spoke of one set is applied in close
contact with the flat side of the corresponding spoke of the other set, so that
the two sets will only appear to the eye as one set; but the spokes of each
set being thicker at the central part of the wheel than they are at its rim or
circumference, the wheel will therefore be rendered convex at both its sides,
in the same manner as the wheel herein-before described and represented at
Figure 7, is convex at one of its sides. . The outer ends of the spokes of the
two sets which are thus applied one to another so as to appear as only one set,
are to be connected with the rim of the wheel, in the same manner as herein-
before described respecting the ends of one set of spokes except as to the
thickness of the rim being greater in case of two sets than with one set of
spokes, suitably for the greater strength of two sets of spokes. And note.-
I am aware that wheels have been made with the inner ends of their spokes
in contact, edge to edge, at the central part of the wheel, so as to fill up that
part with wood, and with the said inner ends of the spokes included between
a large flange projecting out around the box of the wheel at one side of the
spokes, and a circular plate or disc of iron at the other side of the spokes, and
the whole secured by a screw bolt for each spoke, but in such cases the said
inner ends of the spokes have been bevilled on each side of each spoke, so as
to give each spoke (when detached from the others) the appearance of an
arrow head or spear head; I make no claim to such arrow-headed spokes, my

page_text: spokes being beviled at one edge of each spoke without any bevil at the other edge
of the same spoke, as herein-before explained, and the inner ends of my said
spokes are included between two circular iron plates or discs without any large
flange projecting out from the box of the wheel for retaining my said spokes.
Having now described my said improvements in the construction of wheels
for carriages, I, the said Samuel Parlby, do hereby declare that the new
Invention, whereof the exclusive use is granted to me by the Letters Patent
herein before recited, consists in two particulars; videlicit,―
Firstly, as to the central part of the wheel, I claim the mode herein-before
described of forming the spokes out of flat pieces of wood, as shewn in
Figures 1, 2 and 3, with a bevil at one edge of each spoke, but without any
bevil at the opposite edge of the same spoke, and putting those spokes together,
as shewn at the central parts of Figures 6, 13, and 15, between two circular
plates or discs of iron, secured together by at least one cross pin for each spoke,
passing through the thicknesses of both the plates or discs, and also through the
wood of the spoke which is included between the two plates or discs, as herein-
before explained, so as to render the central part of the wheel firm and solid
independantly of any box or axle which may afterwards have to be fastened into
the central hole of the wheel.
Secondly, as to the circumference or rim of the wheel, I claim the mode herein-
before described of applying two flat circular rings of iron laterally around the
ends of the spokes, one such ring at each side of each of the said ends, and uniting
those lateral rings to the ends of all the spokes by cross pins, and filling up the
remaining spaces between the two lateral rings which are not occupied by the
said ends of the spokes by segments of hard wood, with the lengthway of the
grain of that wood in a direction towards the centre of the wheel, or by
segments of any suitable elastic substance, cemented and compressed, as
herein-before mentioned, such segments of hard wood or other substance
being shaped like the keystones of an arch, with one or more such
segments in the interval between the ends of every two adjacent spokes, and
the segments being retained in their places between the two lateral iron rings
by at least one cross pin for each segment, as herein-before explained; the
exterior edge at the circumference of the wheel which is to bear on the surface
of the road or railway being formed by the wood of the end of the spokes,
and the wood of the segments presenting the end of the fibres of the
wood to bear upon the surface of the road or rail, and such exterior edge being
either so much larger in diameter than the two lateral iron rings as that the
iron thereof will not touch the surface of the road, as herein-before explained,
but will leave the whole bearing to be sustained by the wood of the spokes and

page_text: of the segments; or else the said lateral iron rings being of the full diameter
of the said exterior edge of the wheel, as represented in Figure 6 and 7, so as
that the iron thereof will bear on the surface of the road conjointly with the
wood of the spokes and of the segments; or otherwise, in case of wheels for
railways, one of the said two lateral iron rings being smaller in diameter than
the said exterior edge which is to bear on the surface of the rails, and the
other of the said two lateral iron rings being so much larger in diameter than
that exterior edge as to serve for a flange to the wheel, as herein-before
explained, the exterior edge which is to bear on the surface of the rails being
composed of the wood of the spokes and of the segments. Or, in other cases,
the exterior circumference of the wheel which is to bear upon the surface
of the road or railway may be hooped or surrounded by an iron tire, as shewn
in Figures 13 and 14, which tire may be any of the kinds of tire in common
use in ordinary wheels, either for common roads or for railways. In the latter
case the tire may have a flange border, and in case of using iron tire, as afore-
said, the segments may be of wood, with the lengthway of the grain of the
wood in the direction of the circumference of the wheel, and with only one
segment to fill up the interval between the ends of every two adjacent spokes ;
and the wood of the spokes may be formed with shoulders near to the outer
ends of the spokes, for fitting into and retaining the lateral iron rings, as
herein-before explained; or iron shoes may be applied at the ends of the several
spokes, as is shewn in Figures 15, 16, and 17, for the purpose of firmly uniting
the ends of the spokes with the two lateral iron rings. In such case the ends of
the spokes will not extend so far out as the exterior circumference of the wheel;
and in case of using segments composed of any suitable elastic substance,
cemented and compressed (as herein-before explained), into the proper form
and size for segments, then the spokes should by preference have iron shoes, as
shewn in Figures 15, 16, and 17, and the ends of the spokes will not extend so
far out as the exterior circumference which is to bear on the surface of the
road or rail, in which case the segments of compressed elastic substance must
be so formed as to join closely one segment to the other beyond each of the
iron shoes at the end of the several spokes, in the manner of the segments
shewn in Figure 15, whereby the exterior circumference of the wheel which is
to bear on the surface of the road or rail will be formed by the compressed
elastic substance all around that circumference; and in such case the said
exterior circumference of the segments may be so much larger in diameter
than the two lateral iron rings as that the iron thereof will not touch the
surface of the road or rail; or the exterior circumference of these segments
may be of the same diameter as the two lateral iron rings, so as that their

page_text: edges will bear on the surface of the road or rail conjointly with the compressed
elastic substance of which the segments are formed; or one of lateral iron
rings may be smaller and the other larger in diameter than the exterior cir-
cumference of the segments, so that the larger ring may form a prominent
border to serve as a flange to the wheel.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Parlby, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of June, One thousand eight
REMEMBERED, Inat,
eenth day June,
the seventh year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Samuel
Parlby, came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the instrument aforesaid was
spamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of. June, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-four.