IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE TYRES OF BAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Fowler, of Whittington Hall, near Chester-
field, in the County of Derby, Ironmaster, and John Griffiths, of
Sheepbridge, near Chesterfield aforesaid, Manager of Iron Works, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE TYRES OF
BAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELS."
Sealed the 26th May 1868, and dated the 27th November 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Fowler and John
Griffiths at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 27th November 1867.
We, WILLIAM FOWLER, of Whittington Hall, near Chesterfield, in the
County of Derby, Ironmaster, and JOHN GRIFFITHS, of Sheepbridge, near
Chesterfield aforesaid, Manager of Iron Works, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE TYRES OF
BAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
manufacturing the tyres of railway and other wheels.
Our Invention is particularly applicable to the manufacture of the tyres of
railway and other wheels from Bessemer steel scrap, such as rail ends, ingot
ends, shearings from plates, and the like, or from defective or worn out
Bessemer steel rails, tyres, and other forms of Bessemer steel. Our Invention
may however be applied to the manufacture of the tyres of railway and other
wheels from new bars of Bessemer or other steel.

page_text: We will describe the manufacture of a tyre according to our Invention
from Bessemer steel scrap or waste. We beat the said steel scrap in a furnace,
and hammer and roll it to the section or size required; we afterwards coil or
bend pieces of suitable length into a circular figure, and in this way form
rings; we prefer to roll the bar of a taper figure in cross section. When the
bar is coiled into a ring, the narrow edge being made the inner or concave
side of the ring, the metal thickens on the said concave side and the ring
becomes of uniform thickness; the ring may be made of segmental pieces
instead of from a single piece. We take a series of rings made in the manner
described and build or place them upon one another so as to form a pile, the
rings being so arranged that they break joint with one another; the pile of
rings is placed in a heating furnace, and when raised to a welding heat is
taken to a hammer and placed upon or in the anvil or bed of the said hammer;
the said anvil or bed is of a dish shape, so that the external part of the pile of
rings is surrounded by the projecting sides of the said bed or anvil; the
hammer is provided with a mandril or punch which corresponds in size with
the hole in the pile of rings. By the operation of the said hammer the pile
of rings is welded into an annular bloom or blank, the bloom or blank being
turned over and heated from time to time for effecting a uniform weld, the
external and internal diameters being preserved by the dish-shaped bed or
anvil and mandril of the hammer; the bloom or blank thus made is taken to
a weldless tyre mill and rolled into a tyre having the required section.
Instead of heating the Bessemer scrap and hammering and rolling it into a
bar which is afterwards bent into a ring, as herein-before described, the rings
of which the pile is composed may be made in the following manner :-We
take defective or worn out Bessemer steel rails, tyres, bars, or other forms of
Bessemer steel and we saw the said rails, tyres, or bars in a diagonal direction
so as to produce bars of a wedge shape of the required length; these bars are
bent into rings, the two ends of the bars when brought together forming a
scarf joint, a separate piece of Bessemer scrap steel being rolled or hammered
to the required shape to fill up the hollow part of the ring and make it of
uniform thickness; the rings are then built upon one another, the junctions
of the said rings being made to break joint, and a pile is thereby formed, which
pile is heated, hammered, and rolled in the manner herein-before described.
Instead of cutting the ends of the waste pieces obliquely they may be cut
square with nearly the same effect.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Fowler and John Griffiths in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 26th May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
FOWLER, of Whittington Hall, near Chesterfield, in the County of Derby, Iron-
master, and JOHN GRIFFITHS, of Sheepbridge, near Chesterfield aforesaid,
Manager of Iron Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said William Fowler and John Griffiths, Her special licence that we,
the said William Fowler and John Griffiths, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Fowler and John
Griffiths, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE TYRES OF RAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Fowler and
John Griffiths, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seal, or under the hands and seal of one of us or
them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Griffiths, on behalf of the said
William Fowler and myself, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
manufacturing the tyres of railway and other wheels.
Our Invention is particularly applicable to the manufacture of the tyres of
railway and other wheels from Bessemer steel scrap, such as rail ends, ingot
ends, shearings from plates, and the like, or from defective or worn out
Bessemer steel rails, tyres, and other forms of Bessemer steel. Our Invention

page_text: may however be applied to the manufacture of the tyres of railway and other
wheels from new bars of Bessemer or other steel.
We will describe the manufacture of a tyre according to our Invention
from Bessemer steel scrap or waste; but the said manufacture is essentially
the same when other kinds of steel are employed. We heat the said steel
scrap in a furnace, and hammer and roll it to the section or size required; we
afterwards coil or bend pieces of suitable length into a circular figure, and in
this way form rings; we prefer to roll the bar of a taper figure in cross section.
When the bar is coiled into a ring, the narrow edge being made the inner or
concave side of the ring, the metal thickens on the said concave side and the
ring becomes of uniform thickness; the ring may be made of segmental pieces
instead of from a single piece. We take a series of rings made in the manner
described and build or place them upon one another so as to form a pile, the
rings being so arranged that they break joint with one another; the pile of
rings is placed in a heating furnace, and when raised to a welding heat is
taken to a hammer and placed upon or in the anvil or bed of the said hammer;
the said anvil or bed is of a dish shape, so that the external part of the pile
of rings is surrounded by the projecting sides of the said bed or anvil; the
hammer is provided with a mandril or punch which corresponds in size with
the hole in the pile of rings; the said mandril or punch may also be made to
increase the size of the holes in the rings if necessary. By the operation of
the said hammer the pile of rings is welded into an annular bloom or blank,
the bloom or blank being turned over and heated from time to time for
effecting a uniform weld, the external and internal diameters being preserved
by the dish-shaped bed or anvil and mandril of the hammer; the bloom or
blank thus made is taken by the weldless tyre mill and rolled into a tyre
having the required section.
Instead of heating the Bessemer scrap and hammering and rolling it into a
bar, which is afterwards bent into a ring, as herein-before described, the rings
of which the pile is composed may be made in the following manner :-We
take defective or worn out Bessemer steel rails, tyres, bars, or other forms of
Bessemer steel, and we saw or shear the said rails, tyres, or bars in a diagonal
direction so as to produce bars of a wedge shape of the required length; these
bars are bent into rings, the two ends of the bars when brought together
forming a scarf joint, a separate piece of Bessemer steel scrap being rolled o
hammered to the required shape to fill up the hollow part of the ring and
make it of uniform thickness; the rings are then built upon one another, the
junctions of the said rings being made to break joint, and a pile is thereby
formed, which pile is heated, hammered, and rolled in the manner herein-

page_text: before described. Instead of cutting the ends of the waste pieces obliquely
they may be cut square with nearly the same effect.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we do not
limit ourselves to the precise details herein described, as the same may be
varied without departing from the nature of our Invention; but we claim as
our Invention the improvements in the manufacture of the tyres of railway and
other wheels herein-before described, that is to say, making the said tyres
from a pile or series of steel rings, the said steel rings being made and treated
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Griffiths, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
5 Witness,
ROBT. SNOW,
Newbold,
Chesterfield.
JOHN GRIFFITHS. (LS.)