A METHOD OF MAKING AND LIKE- WISE OF KEEPING IN REPAIR CAST-IRON WHEELS FOR COAL WAGGONS AND OTHER CARRIAGES WHERE SUCH WHEELS ARE APPLICABLE
Year: 1807

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HAWKS, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, Iron Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of November, in the
forty-eight year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole priviledge
and authority, that I, the said George Hawks, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A METHOD OF MAKING AND LIKE-
WISE OF KEEPING IN REPAIR CAST-IRON WHEELS FOR COAL WAGGONS AND OTHER
CARRIAGES WHERE SUCH WHEELS ARE APPLICABLE;" in which Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said George Hawks, under
my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Hawks, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described as
follows, that is to say:-
The usual method of making iron wheels for coal waggons and other car-
riages where such wheels are applicable is to cast their arms and rims in one
entire piece, by which method they are partially weakened by the irregular
contracting of the arms and rims in cooling, and are consequently subject to
be frequently broken from trifling shocks or jerks; and when the rims are worn
out or broken, or when any other part of the wheel is injured, the whole wheel
becomes useless, and must be replaced by an entire new one. These defects
are removed by my Invention, which consists simply in making or casting
the wheel in two or more parts, and in joining those parts together by screws,
rivets, pins, forelocks, keys, dovetails, rabbits, or mortices, as is frequently done
with wheels used in the machinery of mills and similar purposes, or by any
other convenient means. By this method the injuries occasioned by the
contraction of the metal are avoided, the wheel is much stronger with the
same weight of metal, and in the end prodigiously less expensive than those
cast in the common way of one piece, for when partially injured by wear or
accident they can be repaired with little expence, whilst those on the old plan
must be replaced by new ones on every accident. In the old method the
manufacturer is compelled to select the softest iron for his purpose, not only
for the sake of avoiding the accidents alluded to, but also for preventing
that of an entire fracture in cooling. A soft material operates against the
durability of the wheel, and is by my method not only not requisite, but I
am enabled to select such metal as is best suited to the purpose of durability,
and to replace worn-out or broken rims with new ones to the old uninjured
arms, or new arms to serviceable rims. Thus I venture to assert that wheels
made according to this method will combine strength, durability, and economy.
The accompanying Drawing represents a wheel calculated for the general
class of Newcastle coal waggons; but of course the strength, diameter, and
description of the wheel, with other material points, depend upon the carriage
to which the wheel is to be fixed, and the road on which it is to travel.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Hawks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eight.
GEORGE (L.s.) HAWKS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the First day of March, in the
forty-eighth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the
said George Hawks came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
forty-fourth year of His said Majesty's reign.
Inrolled the Third day of March, One thousand eight hundred and