IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF RAILWAY WHEELS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Gibson, of Paddington, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF RAILWAY WHEELS
Sealed the 3rd November 1854, and dated the 12th August 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Gibson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
August 1854.
I, JOHN GIBSON, of Paddington, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do
hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY WHEELS" consists in securing tyres upon the
frames or bodies of railway wheels having a dovetail or undercut periphery,
by means of ribs or fillets rolled upon or forming part of such tyres, by
setting or caulking one or both of such ribs or fillets on one or both sides of
the dovetail or undercut part of such frames or bodies at intervals, or with
spaces between such settings or caulkings.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Gibson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
February 1855.
...
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GIBSON, of Paddington, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Gibson, Her-special-licence-that--the said John Gibson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Gibson, 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 THE
MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY WHEELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Gibson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 John Gibson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in securing tyres upon the frames or bodies of rail-
way wheels having a dovetail or undercut periphery, by means of ribs or fillets
rolled upon or forming part of such tyres, by setting or calking one or both of
such ribs or fillets on one or both sides of the dovetail or undercut part of such
frames or bodies at intervals, or with spaces between such settings or calkings.
And I would remark that by this improvement the tyres are more easily
removed and replaced, and may be similarly secured a second, or even a third
or fourth time, by setting or calking such portions of the ribs or fillets as have
not been previously chipped, cut away, or destroyed.
And having thus set forth the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed
to describe the accompanying Drawing, in which I have represented several
Figures as illustrations of some of the principal variations or modifications of

page_text: which the Invention is susceptible, and to exemplify the manner in which it is
to be and may be performed.
Figure 1 is a partial elevation of the back or flange side of a railway wheel
constructed according to my Invention, and which I intend as a general illus-
tration applicable to all the several wheels I am about to describe; but I wish
it to be understood that my Invention is applicable to any form of frame or
body of wheel which has the necessary. form of periphery. a is the felloc of
the frame or body of the wheel, which may be constructed as shewn, or in any
other convenient manner. bis the tyre, which has a rib or fillet 6*, forming
(in all except Figure 13, hereafter described,) the lip to a channel, groove, or
recess (formed for receiving an intervening rim, rib, or fillet, hereafter referred
to,) at or near the edge on one or both sides, and which is limited in its greatest
projection on one side, beyond the main inner surface of the tyre, to the extent
that the expansion by heat of the tyre, without detriment or injury thereto,
will admit of, so as to allow the tyre to pass over or on to the frame or body,
and the extent of which projection, although it may be less, is shewn as for
ordinary sized railway wheels by the full sized sections, and may be increased
with an increased diameter of wheel. The aforesaid rim, rib, or fillet 6 on the
tyre b is calked or set in at intervals on one or both sides, so as to clip the
intervening rim, rib, or fillet, and give the necessary dovetail or hold, as shewn,
namely, at the parts or portions 6**, so as to leave spaces for the future setting
or calking between such parts or portions.
Figure 2 is a transverse section (through the line Z, Z, in Figure 1) of the
wheel as made up or completed; and Figure 3 is a similar section of the wheel
incomplete, before the insertion of the intervening rim, rib, or fillet, and before
setting or calking, but shewing the tyre in an expanded state (produced by
heating) so as to allow it to pass over or on to, and so that it may shrink or
contract upon, the frame of the wheel. The frame or body when complete is
laid upon a
plate, with its largest diameter under, so that the undercut part of
the periphery shall be accessible from above; or the process may be reversed.
The tyre is then heated to the usual degree to give the necessary expansion,
so that the rib on it may pass over or on to the body; the inner diameter of the
part dovetailed or undercut being less than the diameter at the rib, the two
dovetail surfaces come in contact, and as the tyre shrinks or contracts by cooling,
it drops gradually into the inclined cut on the periphery of the frame until it is
quite home, and the lower surface of the periphery of the frame is flush with
the inner lip of the groove; it should then have a blow at intervals all round
from a hammer to make sure of its being quite set home, the proper allowance
having been made in the diameter of the tyre for tightening. So soon as the

page_text: tyre clips the frame the wheel will be turned over, and the intervening rim,
rib, or fillet, having been previously formed in one piece or otherwise, and bent
to or near to the right diameter, will be sprung into or otherwise inserted
either in a hot or cold state (I prefer their being heated), and weli forced into
their proper position, by hammering or other ordinary means, and then the rib
on the tyre is to be set in or calked upon them at the indicated intervals on
one or both sides. I also prefer the setting or calking being done before the
tyre is allowed to get cold; or the intermediate points to be set in may be
further heated by a proper arrangement of furnace, or by applying hot metal
for a time without causing the general expansion of the tyre.
Figure 4 is a section, corresponding with and being a repetition of a portion
of the Figure 2, drawn to a scale of the full size, in order to exhibit more dis-
tinctly the form of the separate parts, and the mode in which the calking of
the rib or fillet of the tyre is made to secure them together. The felloo a is
formed by rolling, forging, or turning with a semi-dovetailed or undercut
periphery on its exterior surface at a*, and the tyro is formed by rolling,
forging, turning, or boring also with a dovetailed periphery on its inner surface
at 6, corresponding with that on the felloe. The tyre and felloe are thus made
to lock into or against each other, and are secured together by the intervening
rim, rib, or fillet c, which is accurately fitted into the channel, groove, or recess
formed in the tyre, and which rim, rib, or fillet overlaps against one side or
edge of the felloe, and is itself secured by the setting or calking on to or
against it of the rib or fillet of the tyre at the parts b*.
I wish it to be noted of this intervening rim, rib, or fillet, firstly, that it
may be made either in one or more lengths or pieces; secondly, that it is
formed with a bevilled or sloped surface, to make the calkings of the tyre
to dovetail against it, and that the bevilled surface may either be continuous
all round the rim, rib, or fillet, or only at the required intervals, but that I
prefer the latter, as I believe the wheel will be firmer and will look better when
finished; thirdly, that the surfaces of the said rim, rib, or fillet which fit into
or against the channel, groove, or recess in the tyre may be rolled, forged, or
turned (or partially by both) to the proper shape, and the channel, groove,
or recess may also be formed by being rolled, forged, or bored out to receive
the rim, rib, or fillet.
And I wish it to be understood that these three remarks apply to all the
several modifications I am herein-after about to describe, in which an inter-
vening rim, rib, or fillet is or are employed. In the particular wheel I have
above been describing, one intervening rin, rib; or fillet only is employed, and
as the felloe and tyre by their own form are made to lock into each other, the

page_text: intervening rib is not required, and therefore is not made to dovetail upon or
clip the felloe of the wheel.
And I would remark, that instead of the calking being effected on the back
or flange side of the wheel, it may be done on the front side by reversing the
arrangement of parts represented in the Figure. And this remark will likewise
apply to some of the several wheels herein-after described.
Figures 5 and 6 are transverse sections (corresponding with Figures 2
and 3); and Figure 7, a repetition of a portion of Figure 5, drawn to a scale
of the full size of another of my improved railway wheels, in which both the
edges of the felloe are made with an undercut or overhanging periphery of a
square character (see a*, a*, in Figure 7), the contact surfaces of the tyre and
felloe not dovetailing together as before, but the two being connected by
means of two intervening rims, ribs, or fillets c, c, one on either side, each of
which clips its proper side or edge of the felloe at c*, cx, and each being fixed
in a channel, groove, or recess in the tyre, and secured by calking the ribs or
fillets of the tyre at intervals, as before described.
Figure 8 is a full-sized section of a portion of another of my improved
wheels in which the tyre and felloe are connected with two intervening rims,
ribs, or fillets c, c, clipping undercut, sloped or bevilled (or they may be square
or rebated) surfaces a*, a*, rolled or formed on the inner edges of the periphery
of the felloc, the intervening rims, ribs, or fillets being fixed in channels in the
tyre, and secured by calking at intervals, as before.
Figure 9 represents another of my improved wheels, similar to that lastly
above described, excepting that the rings clip against undercut, sloped, or
bevilled surfaces a*, a*, formed near to the outer edges instead of the inner
edges of the periphery of the felloe.
Figure 10 represents another of my improved wheels, in which two inter-
vening rims, ribs, or fillets are employed, each of which clips or dovetails with
both the tyre and the felloe, the former being rolled, forged, or formed in the
lathe with the required surfaces 62, 63, and the latter with the required surfaces
a*, a*. In order to permit the insertion of the intervening rims, ribs, or fillets
which are formed with corresponding surfaces c*, c*, the channels, groves, or
recesses are formed so as to project obliquely in the tyre, as indicated by dotted
lines, and the intervening rims or ribs are secured by calking at intervals, as
before.
Figure 11 represents another of my improved wheels, nearly similar to that
lastly above described, excepting that thero is an intervening rim, rib, or fillet c
on the back or flange side only (but may be so formed on the reverse side),
secured by calking at intervals, the tyre and felloe on the front side being con-

page_text: nected directly together by calking a rib' or fillet of the tyre (at intervals or
continuously) on to or against a sloped or bevilled undercut periphery on the
felloe without an intervening rim, rib, or fillet, or may be formed by boring or
cutting out to fit the undercut periphery continuously.
Figure 12 represents another of my improved wheels, in which the tyre and
felloe are connected on the back or flange side by an intervening rim, rib, or
'fillet, nearly similar to that represented at Figure 9, secured by calking at
'intervals, and on the other side by calking at intervals or continuously (or by
forming in the lathe) directly on to the felloe, as in the wheel lastly above
described, without an intervening rim, rib, or fillet.
Figure 13 represents another of my improved wheels, in which the tyre and
felloe are connected on both sides' by calking at intervals directly on to the
frame or body, or at intervals on one side and continuously or otherwise on the
other side by calking or forming the undercut in a lathe.
Having described the several illustrations of my Invention which are repre-
sented in the Drawing, and which I believe will be found the best methods of
performing my Invention, I wish it to be understood that I intend employing
any combinations of the methods described which in practice I may find to be
useful or advantageous.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gibson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.