Improvements in Hydraulic Presses for Fixing Wheels to their Axles, and for analogous purposes.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Jan., 1895-Accepted, 23rd Feb., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hydraulic Presses for Fixing Wheels to their
Axles, and for analogous purposes.
I, JASPER WETTER, Patent Agent, of 433 Strand, in the County of London,
lo hereby declare the nature of this invention, as communicated to me by Georg
Sichelstiel, Mechanical Engineer, of 22 Karolinenstrasse, Nürnberg, in the German
Empire, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
This invention relates to hydraulic wheel presses, in which the press-cylinder has
a horizontal axis and is connected with the cross head by horizontal bars.
The object of the improvements is, to render such presses more generally
applicable, by making the said bars (draw-bars or columus) adjustable in horizontal
planes.
This adjustment may consist in varying the distance of the said bars from each
other or from the centre line of the machine, between given limits, so as to suit the
size and shape of the wheels, discs or plates which are mounted, in the press.
The said bars or columns can also be shifted axially, in order to use the for
wheels which are too large for finding room between the said rods, the rods being
in this case made to pass through apertures formed in the wheels.
press
Provision is made, that in changing the distance of the connecting rods or
press bars from the cylinder axis, the said bars are always shifted uniformly and
parallel to each other.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is a vertical section and Fig. 2 a plan of a wheel press embodying this
invention,
Fig. 3 is a cross section of the saine,
Figs. 4 to 8 represent details and modifications.
The cross head a, as well as the cross beam e applied to the press cylinder, the
guide beam d and the carrying beam e (whose object will be explained further on),
are provided with slots f and y adapted to receive and guide the press bars. The
latter are guided at two places, that is to say at the cross beams c, and d, by means
of bushes or sleeves / connected with the press bars by means of groove and
feather; so as to allow an axial motion of the bars relatively to the bushes. The
said bushes have flanges h' for guiding them on the cross beams c and d, and on the
fixed guide rails ; along the latter the bushes may be rolled to and fro within
limits determined by the slots and g. This motion is produced by means of the
devices illustrated by Figs. 3 to 8.
+
In the first device represented by Figs. 3 and +, steel bands and are fixed
to the bushes, one being wound on the respective bush or sleeve from the left to
the right, and the other from the right to the left.
The opposite ends of the said bands are secured to adjusting screws and which
are fixed to the cross beams. One of the bands of each pair is wider than the
other and provided with a slot through which passes the other band at the point
where they cross or intersect each other.
If now the press bar b be turned one. of the two bands will be wound off the
bush h, while the other is wound on, thus causing the bush to roll in the guide
slot for g and to change its distance from the centre line of the press. The turning
of the press bar may be produced directly, by means of a key n applied to the
rear end of the rod, after the screw nut o fixed to its front end has been released.

page_text: mounted on
In order to relieve the nut o of pressure, the cross head a may be shifted axially
on the pedestal a, within narrow limits, by means of a cam or tooth 9
the said pedestal and adapted to turn in its bearings, said tooth passing through a
recess formed in a projection of the cross-head. If this tooth or cam be turned
by means of a key s, the crosshead is shifted forward or backward according to
the direction in which the key is turned. This has the effect of removing the
In the
crosshead from the fastening nuts o or of pressing it against the same.
former case the nuts o are relieved of pressure, and the rods can be turned
with ease.
The arrangement just described may be further improved by providing the press
bars with collars or adjusting rings which in the position of work leave a slight
clearance between them and the crosshead.
If the latter is shifted towards the cylinder for relieving the nuts o of pressure,
it moves at first along the press bars b, during its further motion, however, the
collars t will move with the cross head and cause the press bars to recede in the
same direction. Consequently, the fastening nuts o mounted on the rear ends of
the press bars, will recede from the bushes, so that the said press bars are completely
relieved of pressure and can be turned easily.
In the modification represented by Figs. 5 to 7, the press bars are turned by
means of tooth gearing.
For this purpose the bushes or sleeves guided in the cylinder cross head care
toothed at their circumference e and the lower guide rails are formed as racks
gearing into the teeth v. Consequently, by turning one of the press bars b on its
axis, the wheels are caused to roll on their respective racks and produce the
desired lateral motion of the press bars.
The inner guide beam d'inay have steel bands kas described above, for
regulating the motion of the press bars.
In the modification represented by Fig. 8 a worm-wheel is mounted on the
press bar b, and gears into an endless screw p mounted along the lower guide rail
in such a manner, that the screw cannot shift in the direction of its axis. If the
screw is turned by means of a crank fixed on the square end w of its axle, the
corresponding press-bar will be caused to move parallel to its axis.
If a wheel to be mounted on its axle by means of the press is too large for finding
room between the rods b, the latter must be passed through the openings contained
in the wheel. For this purpose it is necessary first to disconnect the rods from
the cross head, and after removal of the nuts o, to draw the rods out of the cross
head, so as to obtain the room necessary for introducing the wheel. To facilitate
this manipulation, the following mechanism has been adopted, by means of which
the rods may be drawn out by hydraulic pressure.
To the front end of the press piston K is secured by means of set screws or
otherwise, a cross beam e the arms e e² of which are provided with guide slots for
the rods b passing through the same.
26
As a rule, that is while the press is in operation the said cross beam is loose on
the said rods, but it may be rigidly connected with the same for the purpose of
shifting the rods axially. For this purpose double-armed straps shown in Fig. 24,
are mounted on the rods b, the shanks u u, enclosing the ends of the cross beam e.
At the lower ends the said straps are open, or split, so as to form flaps u' u¹ suspended
vertically from the rod b and connected with each other by a screw x.
When the straps are open or free, they rest loosely on the bars and are shifted
along the same together with the cross beam e. When however, the flaps are
pressed together by the screw, they form a clamp which connects the cross beam e
with the rods b. Consequently, the latter are forced to follow the motion of the
cross beam produced by the piston, that is to say, when the piston recedes, the said
rods bare drawn out of the cross head, and after the wheel has been placed in the
press, the bars are again pushed into the crosshead.
During work, the straps are, of course, released, and the cross beam e moves
along the rods b, without propelling the latter.

page_text: The press described above may not only be used for fixing railway carriage and
other wheels upon their axles, but generally for pressing plate shaped or disc-shaped
objects firmly upon an axle or core.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is ;-
1. A wheel press having connecting rods or press bars guided in slots of the
corresponding cross beams (c and d) in such a manner, that they may be shifted
in the direction of their axes, and also parallel to the same, substantially as
described.
2. A wheel press of the type specified, having connecting rods or press bars (b.)
connected by groove and feather with bushes (h) located in guide slots (f and g)
and adapted to roll in said slots when the press bars are turned, the motion of the
said bushes being controlled or regulated by means of oppositely wound
bands (kok) with or without the aid of tooth gear or worm gear (ip), substantially
as described.
3. A wheel press of the type specified, having a cross beam (e) connected with
the press piston, and adapted to move along the rods 6 when in its working condition,
but capable of being connected with the said rods by à clamping device, for the
axial shifting of the same, substantially as described.
4. In wheel presses of the type specified above, a device for relieving the
connecting rods of pressure, which consists in the combination of the cross head
with a pedestal on which the cross head is adapted to slide, and a movable tooth or
cam held in the said pedestal and extending into a recess of the cross head,
substantially as described.
Dated this 18th day of January 1895.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
433, Strand, London, Agents.