IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGE WHEELS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Noble Granger Olds, of Fort Wayne, in the
State of Indiana, in the United States of America, but at present
of 35, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGE
WHEELS."
Scaled the 8th July 1873, and dated the 17th May 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Noble Granger Olds
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th May 1873.
I, NOBLE GRANGER OLDS, of Fort Wayne, in the State of Indiana,
in the United States of America, but at present of 35, Southampton
Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CARRIAGE
WHEELS," to be as follows:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
carrriage wheels, whereby greater strength and neatness of appearance
are obtained in the hub or nave thereof. For this purpose I turn an

page_text: annular undercut groove or recess in the hub or nave of the wheel,
and I force on to the exterior of the hub or nave a double metallic
collar preferably formed of malleable cast iron. This collar is formed
of two rings united together by cross pieces or webs of a wedge shaped
sectional form, each of such cross pieces or webs coming between
adjacent spokes of the wheel. The inner ends of the spokes are shaped
to fit the spaces formed between the webs or cross pieces and the rings,
and to extend to the bottom of the annular undercut groove or recess.
These spokes are separated from each other by the wedge shaped
cross pieces or webs to a line with the inner periphery of the collar, but
below such webs or cross pieces the spokes abut against each other and
form a complete circular arch within the undercut groove or recess in
the nave or hub. In order to secure the spokes rigidly in position in
this annular groove or recess I form saw cuts in the ends of the spokes
and insert wedges therein, so that as the spokes are driven home in their
sockets, the wedges spread out the inner ends thereof and cause them
to fit tightly the annular groove or recess in the hub or nave.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Noble Granger Olds in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NOBLE
GRANGER OLDS, of Fort Wayne, in the State of Indiana, in the United
States of America, but at present of 35, Southampton Buildings, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, 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
and grant unto me, the said Noble Granger Olds, Her special license
that I, the said Noble Granger Olds, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Noble Granger Olds, 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 CON-

page_text: STRUCTION OF CARRIAGE WHEELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Noble Granger Olds, 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Noble Granger Olds, 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 :—
The Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
carriage wheels whereby greater strength and neatness of appearance
are obtained in the hub or nave thereof, whilst I am also enabled to
obtain a light and durable wheel possessing the advantages of the wooden
and the metallic hub without any of the well-known pratical disadvan-
tages attendant upon a hub composed wholly of wood or of metal, or
of both as hitherto combined. For this purpose I turn an annular
undercut groove or recess in the hub or nave of the wheel, and I force
on to the exterior of the hub or nave a double metallic collar or annulus,
preferably formed of malleable cast iron. This collar or annulus is
formed of two rings united together by cross picces or webs of a wedge
shaped sectional form, each of such cross pieces or webs coming between
adjacent spokes of the wheel, thereby forming such collar or annulus
with mortise holes to receive the spokes. The inner ends of the spokes
are shaped to fit the spaces or mortises formed in the collar or annulus
between the webs or cross pieces and the rings, and to extend to the
bottom of the annular undercut groove or recess. These spokes are
separated from each other by the wedge shaped cross pieces or webs to
a line with the inner periphery of the collar or annulus, but below such
webs or cross pieces the spokes abut against each other, and form a
complete circular arch within the undercut groove or recess in the nave
or hub.
In order to secure the spokes rigidly in position in this
annular groove or recess I form saw cuts in the ends of the spokes, and
insert wedges therein, so that as the spokes are driven home in their
sockets or mortises the wedges spread out the inner ends thereof, and
cause them to fit tightly the annular groove or recess in the hub or
nave

page_text: Drawings, more fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a sectional view of the wheel in a plane passing through
the transverse axis of the hub and the longitudinal axis of the spokes.
Figure 2 is a sectional view through the longitudinal axis of the hub
bisecting the spokes.
My Invention relates to that class of wheels in whose construction is
employed a metallic mortised hub, in combination with a central
wooden core or nave; and it consists in a means by which the spokes,
the metallic hub, and the central wooden nave are combined together.
Referring to the Drawing A is a mortised metallic annulus consisting
of two flanged collars a, a, united together by partitions 6, the flanged
collars being, by preference, of one casting. I prefer to make the four
walls of the mortises in the annulus slightly converging, so that the
shanks of the spokes which are correspondingly tapered will be firmly
wedged therein when the spokes are driven home. B is a central nave
of wood in which, for the reception of the spokes E is cut a groove or
channel D from three-eighths of an inch to one inch and a half in
depth, according to the size of the wheel, sufficient thickness of wood
being always left between the base of such groove and the axle box hole
in the hub to furnish the requisite strength to the hub. The walls of
this groove, it will be observed, converge from the base toward the top
so that the portions of the spokes entered therein will not, without
means are employed to make them do so, have their sides in full contact
with the surfaces of the walls of the groove. To spread the ends of the
spokes (which are not shouldered and tenoned) so that they will be
firmly wedged in the groove in the nave so formed I insert two or more
wedges c, c, having first sawed short longitudinal slits in the ends of the
spokes E. The bases of these wedges rest on the bottom of the groove
before the spokes are driven home, and as they are being driven the
wedges are forced into the slits which have been sawed in the spokes,
and spread their ends so as to firmly wedge the spoke between the walls
of the groove or channel D in the nave.
By the means described I am enabled to make a wheel the wooden
nave of which is stronger than if it were cut away by the usual number

page_text: of mortises extending into the hole for the axle-box, and the spokes of
which are not weakened by having tenons and shoulders cut in their
ends, while by thus wedging the spokes into the nave the double metallic
collar or annulus the spokes and the nave are combined together so as
to make a thoroughly strong wheel.
The advantages derived from this novel combination are numerous
amongst which may be enumerated as follows, viz. :-By the action of the
wedges and the dovetailed groove on the tenons of the spokes the latter
are not only secured to the nave and to the double metallic collar or
annulus, but the nave and the annulus are rigidly bound together
radially by the longitudinal strain on each spoke tenon; all undue
radial expansion of the nave through the action of the wedged tenons is
prevented by the metallic annulus; it is practically impossible for the
nave to become loosened from the double metallic collar or annulus by
dry shrinkage for the expansive strain exercised radially upon the nave
by reason of the wedges in the spoke tenons is originally too great to
admit of any undue subsequent contraction; and by having the spokes
firmly united to the wooden nave in a manner independent of the double
metallic collar or annulus there is that springiness or elasticity to the
wheel which is common to the ordinary wooden hub, and the spokes are
therefore less liable to batter at the felloes than when combined with
a solid metallic hub.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the mode
of carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that what I
claim as my Invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,
a carriage wheel constructed with a mortised metallic annulus A, a
central wooden nave B provided with a groove having inclined sides as
described, and spokes E combining the annulus and grooved nave in the
manner substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Noble Granger Olds, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.