CERTAIN IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF WHEELS, CYLINDERS, HOOPS, AND ROLLERS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH; AND ALSO IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM VALVES
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ROTHWELL JACKSON, of Strawberry Hill, near Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the seventh year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Peter
Rothwell Jackson, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Peter Rothwell Jackson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Peter Rothwell Jackson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should, at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and
Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF WHEELS, CYLINDERS, HOOPS,
AND ROLLERS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH; AND
ALSO IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM VALVES;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso that I, the said Peter Rothwell Jackson, shall cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Peter Rothwell Jackson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following explanation thereof, that is
to say :-
My improvements in the construction and manufacture of wheels, cylinders,
hoops, and rollers, and in the machinery or apparatus connected therewith, consist,
Firstly, in the application or employment of the ordinary machine or
engine, known to engineers and machinists as the "vertical wheel cutting
engine," that is, a machine or tool for cutting or forming the teeth or cogs of
spur or bevil wheels, or a portion of such machine, or any similar arrangement
of machinery, to the purposes of moulding or forming toothed wheels in the
sand prior to casting the same in metal.
In order that the novel and peculiar application and use of such machine as
adapted to the purposes required may be perfectly understood, I shall first
describe the general construction and arrangement of the working parts of an
ordinary "wheel cutting engine," known as the vertical machine. In the
common upright wheel cutting engine the wheel under the operation of
cutting is placed on a table or spindle with its axis vertical, in which posi-
tion it is capable of being turned round its axis entirely, or any space or
portion of the circle the operator may think fit. The wheel being thus
placed, a revolving cutter or tool, running in suitable bearings, fixed to a sliding
plate, is brought down and passed through that portion of the rim or periphery
of the wheel which is intended to be cut or formed into teeth or cogs, and
thus a space is cut out between the two teeth or cogs, which having been clone
the cutter is withdrawn by means of the vertical slide; the operator now turns
the table as far as required by the pitch of the intended teeth or cogs, in doing
which he is guided by the dividing wheel or plate, when the slide and cutter
are again brought down to act upon the rim of the wheel, and thus cut out
another space, which operation is successively repeated until the toothed wheel
is entirely formed by cutting out the spaces, and leaving the series of teeth or
cogs complete, the metal or timber left between the spaces made by the cutter
forming the teeth or cogs of the wheel. When mitre or bevilled wheels are
intended to be cut or formed by this machine, the plate upon which the tool
slide moves is set to suit the angle or direction the cogs or teeth are required
to take.
Such being a general description of the vertical wheel cutting engine, I will
now proceed to shew the peculiar application and use I make of it, or part of
it, in moulding or forming toothed wheels in the sand, to be subsequently cast

page_text: in metal. To prepare a mould for casting a spur wheel, I place a moulding
box upon the table or spindle, where the wheel to be cut would otherwise be
placed. I also attach to the slide plate, instead of a cutter, a pattern or model
of a small segment of the rim, with its cog or cogs, of the wheel intended to
be cast. I then bring the pattern means of the slide down to within a
short distance from the bottom of the moulding box; a quantity of sand is then
put into the box, and pressed or rammed around the segment or pattern in the
usual way of moulding; the segment or pattern is now withdrawn or raised
by means of the slide of the machine or otherwise until the pattern is above
the surface of the sand, when the table must be turned, and the segment be
brought down again, and sand pressed or rammed around it so as to form a
continuation of the mould already made, taking care at the said time not to
disturb the mould formed by the previous operation; thus must be continued
till the operation has been entirely carried round, when the mould for the wheel
will be completed. It may then either be cast upon the table of the machine
or removed to a convenient place for that purpose; after which it may be
dressed in the usual way, and will then be ready for use.
For moulding
cylinders, hoops, pulleys, or plain wheels, such as fly wheels, as well for various
other similar descriptions of work, I use the same arrangement, by placing on
the slide instead of a segmental pattern with cogs a pattern of the form of a
portion of the article required to be moulded. The formation of the arms of
the wheel, where desired, may also be effected in the usual way by removing or
otherwise dispensing with the sand from the interior of the mould, and inserting
cores therein of a proper form, and at such a distance from one another that
the
spaces between any two of such cores will be equal to the thickness
of the arms required. The mould having been covered with a top moulding
box rammed with sand, or a plate covered with loam, or in any other ordi-
nary way the moulder may think best, the metal may be cast in such mould.
For moulding some descriptions of bevil wheels with this machine, the slide
will require to be set in the direction or angle of the bevil in a similar manner
to what is common in cutting bevil wheels, and if the segment should consist
of more than one cog and its rim, it will be necessary in such cases to have
the segment divided between the cogs in such a way that each cog and its
proper portion of segment or rim attached to it may, when required, be drawn
out of the sand separately in the correct angle of the intended bevil wheel,
and thus avoid a difficulty which is generally found in drawing bevil wheel
patterns out of the sand when the teeth are what is called "undercut," that is,
when the cogs are thinner near that part that is attached to the rim or scg-
ment than at the pitch line or circle. It will be evident that for many cast-

page_text: ings the moulding may be performed with sufficient accuracy by the use simply
of a radial arm, in combination with the slide working round its centre without
the dividing plate and its arrangement of wheel-work; but for casting cog
wheels it is much preferable that the dividing plate or wheels should be added,
as perfect accuracy in the moulding may thus be secured.
Secondly, my improvement consists in a novel arrangement and application
of apparatus to connect, disconnect, and drive shafting wheels and other
machinery or apparatus having rotary motion, and to illustrate it I will describe
the arrangement as applied to start, drive, and stop a wheel loose upon a
revolving shaft. In such case the rim of the wheel should project beyond the
boss and arins or disc on one side, and should be bored or turned true inter-
nally. I cast, fit up, or otherwise form in or on that part of the shaft which
lies under the projecting rim of the wheel, one, two, or more hydraulic cylin-
ders, fitted with rams and leathers or stuffing boxes, similar to those used in
"Bramah's hydraulic presses." These cylinders are placed with their axis at
right angles to the axis of the shaft and under the projecting rim of the wheel,
and where more than one is used they are best placed at equal distances round
the shaft. The rams are made convex at their outer ends, or have a cap
fitted
on them to correspond with the inner side of the projecting rim, so that when
it is desired to set the wheel in motion the rams are driven outwards from the
cylinders against the inside of the rim with a force sufficient for the power to
be driven by means of such wheel. In this arrangement the water or other
fluid or elastic vapour to be employed is conveyed from a pipe working in a
stuffing box at the end of the shaft through a hole in the shaft into the cylinders,
and on pressure being applied to the water the rams will be forced outwards
into contact with the bored part of the wheel rim, and the wheel will begin to
revolve, the pressure being in all cases proportioned to the power required to
be driven by the wheel, and when it is desired to stop or disconnect the wheel
the pressure of the water is removed, upon which the wheel will cease to revolve.
To facilitate the withdrawal of the faces of the arms from the inner rim of the
wheel when the water pressure is removed, I attach small springs to the under
side of the rams in the cylinders, the elasticity of which, when the water pressure
is withdrawn, will suffice to draw back the rams to their proper position in the
cylinder, and thus prevent the friction which would take place if they continued
in contact. In some situations it may be inconvenient to introduce the water
through the pipe and stuffing box fitted on to a hole at the end of the shaft, as
would be the case with a wheel to be started in the middle of a long range of
shafting, and in such cases I have found the following modification answer my
purpose: I fix the cylinders upon the shaft, underneath the bored rim of the

page_text: wheel, as before described, and, at a convenient distance from those cylinders,
and on the same shaft with them, I form an additional cylinder with stuffing
boxes, as before, having its axis through and at right angles to the axis of the
shaft, communicating, by means of a hole bored along the shaft, with the
under side of the rams, as in the former illustration. This additional cylinder
extends or projects equally on each side of the shaft, and is fitted with two
rams, one for each end of the cylinder, with a space between the two for
water or other fluid. One ram of the additional cylinder having been put into
its place, water is introduced above it, and, by means of the hole along the shaft,
into the other cylinders, after which the top ram of the additional cylinder is
put into its place. The outer ends of the two rams are at opposite sides of
the shaft, and project beyond the cylinder sufficiently to be formed into screws,
which work in bushes in the centre of two bevil wheels, say "a" and "b," one
of such rams working in the bush of the wheel a, and the other of the
wheel b. Two other bevil wheels, say c and d, are fitted to run loose on the
shaft, and are each brought into gear at opposite sides with the two wheels a
and b. It will be evident that to effect this the two wheels c and d, on the
shaft, must be of equal size, and those on the rams a and b must also be of
equal size, and all four must be of the same pitch. Each of these wheels
must also have a guard to keep them in their places, and the guard for each of
the wheels a and b, working on the rams must also be fitted with a key to keep
the ram from turning in the cylinder when brought into action.
I will now describe the action of this apparatus. The shaft is supposed to
be running, and the wheel intended to be started to be at rest. The four bevil
wheels a, b, c, and d, have at this time no revolution round their several centres,
but are carried round with the shaft, and it is desired to communicate a driving
power to the wheel at rest. To effect this, one of the two bevil wheels upon the
shaft, say the wheel c, is held by hand, or by means of a break, for which a
preparation must be made on those wheels, and that wheel c immediately
ceases to go round with the shaft, and causes the two wheels a and b, on
the ram ends with which it is in gear, to revolve round their axes, and
thereby force the rams into the cylinders, and thus apply pressure to the
water therein, and in the cylinders under the rim of the wheel to be driven,
until a sufficient pressure is obtained; so soon as this is effected the hand
or break, as the case may be, is withdrawn from that bevil wheel c, upon which
the wheels a, b, and d, cease to revolve round their axes, and all the four bevil
wheels again go round with the shaft, thus preserving the pressure in the
cylinders, and the communication of the driving power to the wheel. To tako
off the pressure and bring the wheel which is being driven to a state of rest,

page_text: the other bevil wheel d, on the driving shaft, must be stopped in the same
manner as c was, by hand or break, when the ram bevil wheels a and b
will be driven in a contrary direction round their axes, and thus raise the rams
on the additional cylinder, and remove the pressure on the fluid and the driving
power from the wheel
A further mode of communicating driving power to a wheel is shewn
by the application of the last named arrangement of bevil wheels a, b, c,
and d, as follows:-I arrange the wheels as before, but place them under
the projecting rim of the wheel to be driven, and reverse the action of the
wheels, so that when one of the wheels, say d, is stopped, the action of the
wheels a and b propel the rams or screws outwards against the inner rim
of the wheel to be driven, the rams or screws in this case being each furnished
with a cap or face to fit to the concave segment of the rim against which it is
pressed. In this arrangement no hydraulic pressure is employed, the only
action being that produced by the revolution of the wheels a and b, and the
pressure by means of a cap or head of the screws against the inner side of the
wheel rim. The wheel will be disengaged, as in the former illustration, by stopping
the opposite whicel c, by the hand or break, when the face or cap of the screws
or rams will be withdrawn from the inner side of the wheel rim by the action
of the bevil wheels a, b, running in the contrary direction to that in which
they revolved to start the wheel. It will be evident numerous modifications
in the arrangement of the parts may be suggested and practised in my various
improvements without departing from the spirit of my Invention. As, for
instance, when adopting my principle of the application of hydraulic pressure,
variations may be made by fitting the cylinders upon the wheel and forcing the
rams against the shaft by changing the position of the cylinders and rams with
respect to the shaft or wheel, and in the different modes of procuring and
removing the hydraulic pressure. Also, in cases where hydraulic pressure is
not employed, changes may be made in the arrangement of the bevil wheels,
and their application to produce the connection and disconnection of machinery
and shafting by means of screws or rams, and other apparatus, without hydraulic
pressure, upon the principle herein-before illustrated, and in the employment
of worm or other wheels for the same purpose in minor details, which I have
not thought it necessary to describe fully, as they will readily suggest them-
selves to any practical mechanic. Various fluids or elastic vapours may also
be employed, as well as water in the cylinders.
A further improvement consists in the application of an article of commerce
now well known by the name of "guano," as a substitute or material to be
employed in the hardening of hoops, cylinders, rollers, and wheels, and also the

page_text: faces and levers for steam valves and other apparatus, in which great hardness
of surface and durability is desired in place of the bone dust and other matters
now commonly employed in such or similar processes.