IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Alley, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN WHEELS."
Sealed the 13th June 1873, and dated the 27th March 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stephen Alley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th March 1878.
I, STEPHEN ALLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS," to be as follows, that is to say :—
This Invention relates to improvements in wheels of the kind
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to James Baird
Handyside, and dated 12 May 1869 (No. 1454).
In a wheel of the kind referred to the tire or rim is connected to the
central part or hub by two discs or annular plates of malleable iron or

page_text: steel, which discs have hitherto been formed with annular convexities
at their eyes and at their outer edges to grasp rims or annular ribs
formed for the purpose on the hub and tire respectively. It has been
proposed to impart some additional strength that is found necessary
to the eye of each plate by increasing the thickness or by welding on
additional metal, but by the present Invention this is proposed to be
done without necessarily increasing the thickness, and in a simple and
convenient manner by shaping the eye of the plate with an additional
undulation, or, in other words, with an annular concavity (as viewed
from the outside), the groove in the hub being shaped to correspond.
In a similar way an additional undulation or annular concavity may
with advantage be formed at the outer edge of the plate to give more
strength and gripping surface.
Another improvement consists in preventing the tire from slipping
round in the plates, or the plates from slipping round on the hub, by
forming a notch in the projecting rib of the tire and hub respectively,
and by rivetting on each plate either a separate tongue for each notch,
or a radial strip with its ends placed to enter the tire and hub notches
respectively.
By the present Invention also the nuts on the screw bolts which tie
the plates or discs together are prevented from working loose by slight
projections formed on their inner faces and entering slight indentations
formed in the rings or washers on which they bear. The elasticity of
the plates will allow of the nuts being turned when screwing up
notwithstanding the projections and indentations.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Stephen Alley in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
ALLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, a
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give

page_text: and grant unto me, the said Stephen Alley, Her special licence that I,
the said Stephen Alley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Stephen Alley, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others): that I, the said Stephen Alley, 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 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 Stephen Alley, 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 in writing, reference being. had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to improvements in wheels of the kind
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to James Baird
Handyside, and dated 12th May 1869 (No. 1454), and consists, partly
in constructing wheels with malleable iron or steel discs of improved
forms, connecting the hubs or centres and the tires or rims, such discs
grasping the hubs and tires and being connected to each other by screw
bolts applied midway between the hubs and tires, as described in the
said earlier Specification.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, may be properly understood,. I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing
various modifications embodying my improvements. The same reference
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are
repeated.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of a wheel as made with one modi-
fication of my improvements, and Figure 2 is a corresponding face view
of one half of the wheel.

page_text: The hub or centre 1 is formed with a flanged projecting rim 2 ex-
tending round the middle of its circumference, and presenting annular
grooves 3 of curved section on each face. In a nearly similar manner
the tire 4 is formed with ribs or flanges 5 extending round its inner
surface and presenting annular grooves 6 on each face. A pair of
curved discs or annular plates 7, 7, of malleable iron or steel are applied
between the hub 1 and tire 4, with their central parts entering the
grooves 3 of the hub, and with their outer edges entering the groove 6
of the tire. The discs 7 are tied together by screw bolts 8, which are by
preference arranged to bear on rings 9 applied outside of the discs 7,
and the discs 7 in consequence of being so tied grasp the hub 1 and
tire 4 between them.
An important part of my present improvements consists in making
the edges of the eyes or central apertures of the discs 7 with outwardly
bended flanges 10, which construction not only gives the required
strength to the discs at those parts, but also presents an increased
surface for bearing on and grasping the hub.
Figures 3 and 4 are respectively a vertical section and a half face
view of a modification, which whilst generally similar to that shown in
Figures 1 and 2, differs in having the outer edges of the discs 7 strength-
ened by outwardly bended flanges 11, instead of terminating with an
inward bend, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. I do not consider this
increase of strength so much called for at the outer edges as at the
eyes, but it may be adopted at both parts if thought by others to be
desirable.
In order to prevent the nuts of the screw bolts 8, by which the discs 7
are tied together, from working loose, I have them made as shown in
Figures 5 and 6. The former Figure shows a bolt 8 with its nut 12 in
position, the discs 7 and rings 9 being in section, whilst the latter is
a face view of the under or bearing side of the nut 12. The nut has
a series of slight projections 13 formed on its under side, and a series of
corresponding depressions 14 are formed in the ring 9 (or washer) on
which the nut bears, as shown in Figure 7. When the nuts 12 are
being screwed up the plates 7 will yield inwards on account of their
elasticity, and allow the projections 13 to pass over the parts of the
rings 9 between the depressions 14%; but the nuts will be afterwards

page_text: prevented from working loose by the locking action of the projections
and depressions.
Various forms of projections and depressions may be used, and by way
of example they are shown in Figures 8, 9, 10, as in the form of radiating
angular surfaces.
The tire 4 is prevented from slipping round in the discs 7 by the
appliances shown full size in Figures 11 and 12, and also in Figure 1.
A notch 15 is formed in the rib or inside flange 5 of the tire, and a
tongue or key piece 16 is rivetted on each diso 7, and being entered into
the notch has the desired effect. In a similar way the discs 7 may be
prevented from slipping round on the boss, as is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 13 is a section showing the mode of adapting the improved
mode of construction to the driving wheels of locomotives. The boss 1
is in this case formed with an enlargement 17 of sufficient size to include
the crank pin 18 and the grooves 3 to receive the discs 7 are formed
round the outer part of this enlargement, whilst the discs 7 become
reduced to comparatively narrow annular plates.
The wheels shown in the accompanying Drawings are such as aro
adapted for railways, but whilst it is in such wheels my Invention will
probably find its most important practical application it is by no means
limited thereto, as the improved mode of construction may be carried
out with various forms of tire, and different dimensions and strengths of
the parts to suit various requirements and uses.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself
to the precise details herein described or delineated; but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The forming of the discs or plates (7) with the outwardly bended
flanges (10) at their eyes, and with or without similar flanges (11) at
their outer edges, substantially as herein described or delineated.
2. The forming of the nuts (12) and rings (9) with projections and
depressions to prevent the nuts from working loose, substantially as
herein described and delineated.

page_text: 3. The applying of the notches (15) and tongues (16) to prevent
the parts from slipping round on each other, as herein described and
delineated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Alley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
STEPHEN ALLEY. (L.S.)