A NEW AND USEFUL BEARING SURFACE FOR ALL KINDS OF JOURNAL AND AXLE BOXES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Patrick Sarsfield Devlan, of Elizabeth Port, Union
County, in the State of New Jersey, United States of America, for the
Invention of "A NEW AND USEFUL BEARING SURFACE FOR ALL KINDS OF
JOURNAL AND AXLE BOXES."
Sealed the 14th May 1861, and dated the 14th February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Patrick Sarsfield Devlan
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th February 1861.
I, PATRICK SARSFIELD DEVLAN, of Elizabeth Port, Union County, in the
State of New Jersey, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "A NEW AND USEFUL BEARING SURFACE FOR ALL
KINDS OF JOURNAL AND AXLE BOXES," to be as follows :-
It consists in the use and application of the pulp employed for making
paper for boxes and bearings of journals, as a substitute for the various metals,
alloys, and compositions used for such purposes. It may be used alone, or
mixed in combination with plumbago, plumbaginous substance, plaster, or other
suitable material, by means of gum shellac, or other gum, and moulded when
wet into form by pressing it into the stands, or iron boxes, or other con-
venient way, as in casting Babbit metal boxes, and allowed to dry.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Patrick Sarsfield Devlan in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PATRICK
SARSFIELD DEVLAN, of Elizabeth Port, Union County, in the State of New
Jersey, United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 14th day of February 1861, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the
Fear of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Patrick Sarsfield Devlan, Her special licence that I, the said Patrick
Sarsfield Devlan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Patrick Sarsfield Devlan, 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 "A NEW AND USEFUL BEARING SUBPACE MATERIAL FOR ALL KINDS OF
JOURNAL AND AXLE BOXES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Patrick Sarsfield Devlan, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Patrick Sarsfield Devlan, 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 :-
My Invention relates to a novel composition for boxes or bearings of all
kinds of journals, and has for its object a substitute for the metallic bearing
boxes now in use, which shall be more durable, create less friction, and the
production of which shall cost less than any of the materials now in use.
Previous to my present Invention boxes for the journals of car and other
axles, and for journals of all kinds of shafts in the various branches of
machinery have been composed of different kinds of metals and alloys, the
most generally used being of brass and of Babbit metal, and forming different
combinations of metal when considered in connection with the shaft or journal,

page_text: as, for instance, a steel spindle journal is generally run in a "Babbit metal"
box, while a wrought-iron shaft journal is generally run in a brass box, the
desideratum always being to have the combination of metals such that the
surfaces coming into contact will be composed of those metals, the particles of
which are so arranged as to enable the two surfaces to slide on each other
with the least amount of friction. I have discovered that paper pulp when
cast or pressed into a mould or box will form an excellent bearing box for the
journal of a shaft or axle to run in, and also that for many purposes an
addition of a small proportion of plumbago to the paper pulp will improve it
for purposes of bearing or journal boxes. And my Invention consists in the
application of any of the pulp employed in making paper to the formation of
boxes for journals of axles and shafts of all kinds.
To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my Invention I will
proceed to describe it and the modes in which I have practised it successfully.
I take about ten pounds of paper pulp and one pound of plumbago, or
plumbaginous substance, and mix well together, adding in the mixture about
two ounces of gum shellac, or other gum, and of this composition I form a
box by pressing the material hard in moulds, and letting it become dry; the
composition may be compressed around the journal which is to run in the box,
or around a mandrel of the proper diameter. The most desirable way of
moulding the boxes is to press the composition into the stands or iron boxes of
the machine, and around the journals, after the fashion generally followed in
casting Babbit metal boxes; and when following this method of pressing the
composition boxes into the cavities where they are to remain, the utility of the
gum is obvious in assisting to fasten the composition in place, as well as in
causing the particles of the composition to adhere to each other with greater
tenacity. The plumbago I have found to be of advantage to the paper pulp
in making the grain of the composition finer, and lessening the friction,
although the paper pulp alone will form an excellent box, much more durable,
and creating less friction than metal. In combination with the paper pulp
and plumbago I have employed a small proportion of gum tragacanth. I
have also used in connection with the paper pulp, in lieu of plumbago, about
the same proportion of plaster, which I have found to unite well together with
the pulp, and form an admirable composition for boxes. But it will be under-
stood that the paper pulp is the essence of the composition, and, in fact, when
used without any other ingredients, forms a box for journals of all kinds, which
is more durable, runs easier, and costs less than any kind of box in use
previous to my Invention. I do not, therefore, wish to limit myself in tho
protection of my Invention by Letters Patent to the proportions of the

page_text: materials mixed as I have herein-before described, or even to the combination
of any other material or materials in any proportions with the paper pulp;
neither do I wish to limit my Invention to the use of any particular kind of
paper pulp, as any pulp formed of any of the vegetable substance, fibrous, and
capable of forming paper, will answer the purposes of my Invention; what I
claim under the above in part recited Letters Patent is, the employment of
paper pulp to form boxes for bearings of journals of shafts and axles, sub-
stantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Patrick Sarsfield Devlan, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witnesses,
J. N. MINTIRE,
W. C. MINTIRE.
PATRICK SARSFIELD DEVLAN. (L.s.)