IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIELDS OR COLLARS FOR PREVENTING THE ESCAPE OF OIL OR OTHER LUBRICATING FLUID FROM RAILWAY AXLE BOXES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Holmes Bass, of No. 6, Featherstone Street,
in the Parish of St. Luke, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIELDS OR COLLARS FOR PREVENTING
THE ESCAPE OF OIL OR OTHER LUBRICATING FLUID FROM RAILWAY AXLE
BOXES."
Sealed the 25th April 1873, and dated the 22nd November 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Holmes Bass at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd November 1872.
I, JOHN HOLMES BASS, of No. 6, Featherstone Street, in the Parish of
St. Luke, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIELDS OR COLLARS FOR PREVENTING
THE ESCAPE OF OIL OR OTHER LUBRICATING FLUID FROM RAILWAY AXLE BOXES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in shields or collars
for preventing the escape of oil or other lubricating fluid from railway

page_text: At the present time when oil or other lubricating fluid is used for the
lubrication of the axles of railway wheels wooden shields or collars are
often employed to retain the oil in the box and to exclude dust, but
such shields or collars often act imperfectly, especially after they have
been in use for some time.
It has also been attempted to use packing rings cut out from a sheet
of cork, but without success, because pieces of cork of a sufficiently
large size are rarely of so fine a quality as to be oil tight in all
directions, and such pieces when found are expensive, besides which
cork rings cut from a sheet are very tender, and are likely to be broken
in the operations of inserting and withdrawing the axle from its box.
Now according to my Invention I construct a shield or collar with a
metal belt or hoop surrounding it, and binding together a number of
separate pieces of cork. These pieces are cut radially and across the
grain of the cork, in which direction cork of ordinary quality is perfectly
oil tight. The pieces of cork are compressed into the metal belt or
hoop. The hole in the collar or shield is made accurately to fit the axle,
and may either be concentric or slightly eccentric, to provide for wear
upon the
side. The faces of the shields or collars are surfaced
-upper
truly, and the collar is made of the same thickness all round. There
are lugs upon the metal belt or hoop to prevent the shield or ring
turning in the axle box. In this way I form a shield or collar which
can be produced at a moderate price, which will retain the oil and
exclude dust fully as well as a ring cut in one piece from a sheet of
the finest cork, and which is so strong that there is no risk of breaking
it in inserting it into and withdrawing it from its place in the box.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Holmes Bass in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN 3
HOLMES BASS, of No. 6, Featherstone Street, in the Parish of Saint
Luke, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Holmes Bass, Her special license
that I, the said John Holmes Bass, my executors, administrators, and
5 assigns, or such others as I, the said John Holmes Bass, 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
O Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SHIELDS OR COLLARS FOR PREVENTING THE ESCAPE OF OIL OR OTHER LUBRICATING
FLUID FROM RAILWAY AXLE BOXES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Holmes Bass, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
3 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 John Holmes Bass, 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 :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in shields or collars
for preventing the escape of oil or other lubricating fluid from railway
axle boxes.
At the present time when oil or other lubricating fluid is used for the
lubrication of the axles of railway wheels, wooden shields or collars are
often employed to retain the oil in the box and to exclude dust, but suoh
shields or collars often act imperfectly, especially after they have been in
use for some time.
It has also been attempted to use packing rings cut out from a sheet
of cork, but without success, because pieces of cork of a sufficiently
large size are rarely of so fine a quality as to be oil tight in all
directions, and such pieces when found are expensive, besides which
cork rings out from a sheet are very tender, and are likely to be broken
in the operations of inserting and withdrawing the axle from its box.

page_text: Now according to my Invention I construct a shield or collar with a
metal belt or hoop surrounding it and binding together a number of
separate pieces of cork. These pieces are cut radially and across the
grain of the cork, in which direction cork of ordinary quality is perfectly
oil tight. The pieces of cork are compressed into the metal belt or hoop.
The hole in the collar or shield is made accurately to fit the axle, and
may either be concentric or slightly eccentric, to provide for wear upon
the upper side. The faces of the shields or collars are surfaced truly,
and the collar is made of the same thickness all round. There are lugs
upon the metal belt or hoop to prevent the shield or ring turning in the
axle box. In this way I form a shield or collar which can be produced
at a moderate price, which will retain the oil and exclude dust fully as
well as a ring cut in one piece from a sheet of the finest cork, and
which is so strong that there is no risk of breaking it in inserting it into
and withdrawing it from its place in the box.
•
In order that my said Invention may be readily carried into effect,
I will proceed to describe the manner in which I prefer to conduct the
manufacture.
I form the belt which surrounds the shield of hoop iron or other
metal in two pieces, as shewn at Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings.
The upper piece has two projecting angles or horns to prevent the shield
from turning round within the axle box, and these two pieces are rivetted
together at a, a, a, a.
The hooping iron I use is about half an inch wide, and th thick,.
and I make the belt a little (say ½ inch) smaller in diameter than
the width of the chamber of the axle box in which it is to be placed.
I cut the pieces of cork which are to form the belt radially, so that
when placed together their edges may form a fairly true joint. They
should be about a quarter of an inch wider than the proposed thickness
of the shield, and their length should be such as to leave the central
hole a little smaller than the intended hole to allow for finishing. They
should be so cut that when put together the grain of the cork every-
where runs in the direction around the ring.
In order to preserve the full elasticity of the cork I prefer to avoid
the use of cement by condensing the pieces of cork so tightly within the
belt as to make the shield when finished as strong or stronger than if

page_text: made of solid cork. To produce this condensation I form a frame of
iron or wood, shewn in plan at Figure 2, and in section at Figure 3,
with a recess in it a little larger in diameter than the shield, and about
as deep as the thickness of the shield, and I cut away portions c, c, of
the rim to admit the horns to pass in, and insert a small stud on the
opposite side of the recess, so that when a belt is put in it may descend
to about an eighth of an inch from the bottom. I also make a hole d,
about ths of an inch diameter in the central boss to receive the
condensing levers. I form these levers (see Figures 4 and 5) by uniting
two bars of iron about two feet long by a common joint e, making the
joint pin of the same diameter as the hole just mentioned, and projecting
about an inch beyond the joint. These two bars or levers have each a
descending pallet near the joint, which when the levers are in their
place in the condensing frame nearly touch its bottom and rim. Upon
one of these levers is jointed a stay arm g with holes in it, which stay
passes across to the other lever, on which is a pin h that can be made to
enter any of the holes in the stay arm, and so fix the levers in any
position.
With these arrangements I proceed by putting a belt into the frame,
and having filled the belt with the radial pieces of cork, I put in the
condensing levers by inserting their projecting joint pin into the central
hole of the frame, taking out if necessary one of the pieces of cork to
make room for the pallets. I then forcibly separate the levers till they
make an opening wide enough to admit 3 or 4 more pieces of cork, and
I fix the levers by their stay arm while I am putting these pieces in.
I then release the levers by lifting the stay arm, push in a clamp at
each pallet to prevent the pieces of cork on both sides from rising up
and then lift out the levers by a short crowbar. The shield is then
taken out, and only requires finishing. To reduce it to its proper
thickness, and make both faces perfectly smooth and true, I place it in
a chuck in a lathe, and cut away the superfluous cork by a cutter
ground to a knife edge and fixed in a slide rest, or by a cork
machine, such as is in use for splitting cork. I then trim out the
central hole of the shield to its true size, either in a lathe with a slide
rest, or by fixing the shield between two iron or steel plates, each having
a hole of the required size, and trim out the hole in the shield with a
narrow knife. The shield is then finished by champering its outer edge
on both sides with a file or coarse emery stick, either in a lathe or by

page_text: · hand; and in its finished state the shield is shewn in plan at Figure 6,
and in side view at Figure 7.
What I claim is, the construction of shields or collars for preventing
the escape of oil or other lubricating fluid from railway axle boxes, sub-
stantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Holmes Bass, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.