IMPROVEMENTS IN AXLE BOXES FOR LOCOMOTIVES AND OTHER RAILWAY VEHICLES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Atkinson Longridge, of Clapham, in the
. County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AXLE BOXES
FOR LOCOMOTIVES AND OTHER RAILWAY VEHICLES”
Scaled the 29th January 1875, and dated the 4th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Atkinson
Longridge at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 4th December 1874.
I, JAMES ATKINSON LONGRIDGE, of Clapham, in the County of Surrey,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
AXLE BOXES FOR LOCOMOTIVES AND OTHER RAILWAY VEHICLES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to so constructing the axle boxes of railway
engines and vehicles that they shall adapt themselves readily to the axle
in order that the bearing of the brass or other lining shall be always
uniform along the axle journal, and the weight of the vehicle uniformly
distributed thercon. This has been accomplished by what is termed a
rolling brass with a rocking motion about its central point, but by my

page_text: Invention this is accomplished in a more simple manner, the box being
fitted with a fixed lining.
My Invention consists in making the cheeks or flanges on the axle
box in which the axle guides or horns work so as to present two convex
surfaces to the said horns instead of a parallel groove as at present. The
narrowest part of the groove is in the centre line of the bearing, and it is
widened out above and below. The cheeks or flanges forming this
groove may extend the whole depth of the box, or they may extend only
a portion of that depth, and they may in fact be so far reduced as only
to form two studs or projections on each side of the box and at the
centre of the bearing, between which the axle guides or horns work.
nied by the said James Atkinson Logingenom
Office on the 2nd June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ATKINSON LONGRIDGE, of Clapham, in the County of Surrey, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Atkinson. Longridge,
Her special licence that I, the said James Atkinson Longridge, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Atkinson Longridge, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AXLE BOXES FOR LOCOMOTIVES
AND OTHER RAILWAY VEHICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Atkinson Longridge, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
-

page_text: 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 James Atkinson Longridge, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thercon (that
is to say) :-
My Invention consists in so constructing the axle boxes of railway
engines and vehicles that they shall adapt themselves readily to the
movements of the axle relatively to the engine or carriage framing so
that the bearing of the brass or other lining shall be always uniform
along the axle journal, in order that the weight of the vehicle may be
uniformly distributed thereon.
Hitherto the axle boxes as usually fitted to slide in the guides or horns
are held rigidly in one position, and are not free to adapt themselves to
the relative movements of the axle and the framing (which movements
or momentary inclinations of the axle are due either to inequalities in
the road or to the oscillation of the vehicle itself), and in order to obtain
a uniform bearing recourse has been had to what is termed a "rolling
brass," that is to say, a brass or lining not fixed in the axle box as
usual, but capable of rocking on a central point above, so as to adapt
itself to the movements of the axle and bear uniformly thereon. Now
by my Invention this desirable result is accomplished in a more simple
and less expensive manner. According to my Invention the axle box is
not held rigidly in one direction by the guides or horns in which it
works but is free to incline itself therein according to the relative
positions of the axle and the framing. The axle box being thus free to
adapt itself to the movements of the axle a rolling brass" is not
required, and the box is fitted with an ordinary fixed lining. To this
end I make the cheeks or flanges on the axle box in which the axle box
guides or horns work so as to present two convex surfaces to the said
guides or horns instead of a parallel groove as at present.
"
The guides or horns are made in the usual way, and the groove at the
narrowest part (which part is situated in the same horizontal plane as

page_text: the centre line of the axle) is of the proper width to receive the said
guides or horns, the groove being widened out above and below this
point to allow the desired freedom of motion of the axle box, as above
mentioned.
In order that the Invention may be more readily understood I have 5
illustrated it in the accompanying Drawings, in which two side views of
the axle box are shown with the cheeks or flanges constructed according
to my Invention.
da, are the cheeks or flanges, which may either extend the whole
depth of the box, as in Figure 1, or they may extend only a portion of 1
that depth, and they may in fact be so far reduced as to form but two
studs or projections, as in Figure 2. The red lines represent one of the
guides or horns in position between the said checks or flanges. The
checks or flanges on both sides of the axle box are made alike.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of 1
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the hercin-before in part recited Letters Patent is, fitting
the axle box in its guides or horns so that the axle box is free to oscillate
therein and adapt itself to the movements of the axle, substantially as
herein-before shown and described for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said. James Atkinson Longridge, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.