Improvements in Wheels for Vehicles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Mar., 1897-Accepted, 8th May, 1897
Improvements in Wheels for Vehicles.
We, SIMPSON, STRICKLAND & Co., LTD., and FREDERIC STRICKLAND, all of
Dartmouth, in the County of Devon, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our invention relates to the construction of wheels for vehicles and has for its
object to provide wheels more particularly intended for use with motor cars and
other power-propelled vehicles in which it is essential that the wheels should be
well adapted to effectively transmit power from the boss to the rim and also that
they should be capable of withstanding considerable side strains. In ordinary
vehicle wheels for mere carrying purposes this is not provided for at all and the
spokes are usually oval or elliptic or rectangular in cross-section and arranged in
the same vertical plane, each with its minor axis or shorter dimension in the
circumferential direction of the wheel; such wheels have therefore but little
power to transmit driving strains from the boss to the rim and rely for their lateral
rigidity entirely on the stiffness of the spokes in a transverse direction, that is
through the major axis or longer dimension. According to our invention we meet
the resistance to driving power applied through the axle and boss to the rim of the
wheel by placing each spoke with its major axis or longer dimension edgeways to
the strain, that is to say, circumferentially to the wheel; and we provide for lateral
stability and rigidity by dishing. the spokes (as in a bicycle wheel) and leading them
alternately from each side of a boss of considerable length to the rim to which
their outer ends are fixed. The boss is specially constructed and is made of cast
metal, preferably malleable cast iron or gun metal, and the other materials used in
the wheel are such as are generally used for their respective purposes.
In further description of our invention we will refer to the accompanying
drawings in which
Fig. 1 is a half elevation and Fig. 2 a horizontal section of one form of our
improved wheel.
Fig. 3 is a front elevation and Fig. 4 a horizontal section of the boss of an
alternative construction. Figs. 5 and 6 are the same views of a slightly modified
arrangement.
The same letters indicate the same parts in all of the figures.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, B is the gun-metal boss for the axle with circular
end-flanges 6 inclined inwardly towards the rim R. The spokes S are shown
rectangular in cross-section but may be more or less ovalled, and they are enlarged
at their inner ends and squared up so as to fit well and abut-practically solidly-
against each other circumferentially inside the said boss flanges b, and they are
arranged alternately at each side of the boss inclining inwardly to the rim R to
which they are morticed or fixed in the usual way and in the same circumferential
plane. AA are hard-wood blocks interposed and forming wedges between one side
of the enlarged end of each spoke and the opposite flange 6 of the boss whereby
the whole is firmly secured and rendered solid, and a bolt may be used if desired.
In the alternative construction shown in Figs. 3 and 4 these hard-wood blocks A
are dispensed with and the circular inclined boss flanges b b are set back as shown
from the ends of the boss B for a distance about equal to the transverse width of
the spokes S, and upon each end of the boss a shorter flange b' is cast. As bearing
ID 01

page_text: surfaces for the spokes S a series of inclined flat surfaces fff is formed on the
outer sides of the flanges b, and the spokes are arranged abutting against each other
as above described and fitted between the outer surfaces ff of flanges bb and the
flanges, and each is firmly secured in place by bolts and nuts C.
In the modified arrangement shown in Figs. 5 and 6 substantially the same
construction is adopted but between each flat surface f, alternating at each side of
the wheel, flat radial flanges D are interposed by which the spokes are separated
and against which the sides of each spoke abut, the spokes being fixed by bolts and
nuts Cas before.
We do not broadly claim arranging the spokes with their longer dimension
circumferentially disposed nor the dishing or inclining of the spokes from boss to
rim, but
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
-claim is :-
1. A vehicle wheel in which the spokes are alternately arranged at each side and
have their major (sectional) axes or greater dimension disposed circumferentially
to the wheel, and which are enlarged and squared at their inner ends so as to abut
circumferentially against each other (or against an intervening flange) at each side
of a boss of considerable length and laterally against a flange or between flanges
formed at or near the end of the said boss, all the spokes inclining together
towards and being fixed to the rim in the same circumferential plane substantially
as and for the purposes herein described.
2. The several arrangements of wheel bosses and modes of connecting the
alternately arranged enlarged ends of the spokes thereto, substantially as described
and shown respectively in Figs. 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6 of the accompanying
..drawings.