IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST WHEELS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Neil McHaffie, of Broad Street, Mile End, Glasgow,
Ironfounder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF CAST WHEELS."
Sealed the 29th July 1864, and dated the 8th February 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Neil M Haffie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th February 1864.
I, NEIL MCHAFFIE, of Broad Street, Mile End, Glasgow, Ironfounder,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CAST WHEELS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of cast
wheels. The Invention is applicable in the manufacture of wheels made of
cast hæmatite iron, and consists in casting the ring and the spokes or radial
arms of a wheel in one piece or casting, the inner ends of the spokes or
radial arms being by preference left entirely separate and unconnected, and
then having annealed the casting, to cast a boss or nave of any suitable
cast metal on to the inner ends of the spokes or radial arms.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Neil McHaffie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th August 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NEIL
MCHAFFIE, of Broad Street, Mile End, Glasgow, Ironfounder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Neil McHaffie, Her special licence that I, the said
Neil McHaffie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as the said Neil McHaffie, 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 CAST WHEELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Neil M°Haffie, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Neil McHaffie, 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 the manufacture of cast
wheels. The Invention is applicable in the manufacture of wheels made of
cast hæmatite iron, and consists in casting the ring and the spokes or radial
arms of a wheel in one piece or casting, the inner ends of the spokes or radial
arms being by preference left entirely separate and unconnected, and then:
having annealed the casting, to cast a boss or nave of any suitable cast metal.
on to the inner ends of the spokes or radial arms.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
more fully the manner of performing the same.

page_text: In manufacturing cast wheels according to this Invention, I first, as before
stated, cast in hæmatite iron (using such a mixture as is usually employed in
making malleable castings) the ring together with the spokes or radial arms
in one piece or casting, the inner ends of the arms being by preference left
entirely separate and unconnected with each other, the inner ends of the
spokes or radial arms might, however, be connected together by a thin web,
but I believe it best for the inner ends of the arms to be entirely separate
from each other. The casting so formed is then annealed by being placed in
an annealing furnace, where it is annealed, as is well understood by workers
in malleable cast iron.
In order to cast a boss on to the inner ends of the spokes, I prefer to place
the casting after it has been annealed into a suitable mould box, together with
the pattern of the boss or nave, and a sand mould, containing the casting of
the rim and spokes, is then formed in the mould box, and into the mould so
formed the metal that is to form the boss is cast. The metal of which the boss
is composed may be cast iron, brass, or other suitable metal. The extremities of
the inner ends of the spokes have by preference dovetails on their ends, which
when the boss is cast on are imbedded in the metal of the boss, and the part of
the wheel first cast being now annealed and malleable will accommodate itself
to the shrinkage of the boss. For railway wheels, and for some other purposes,
I prefer to make the arms or spokes of a curved form, and then the metal of
which the boss is composed contracting in cooling will slightly straighten the
arms, and so prevent any great strain being put upon the other parts of the
wheel. When the boss is to be composed of metal that would require to be
annealed, such as iron used for malleable casting, then in place of annealing
the casting of the rim and spokes before casting the boss on to the inner ends
of the spokes, I anneal the rim and spokes after the boss has been cast on, so
annealing the whole wheel at one operation; in this case I prefer so to form
the inner ends of the spokes that after the boss has been cast on to the spokes
the boss may contract without putting any strain upon the spokes. For this
purpose the sides of the inner ends of the spokes are formed tapering towards
the centre of the boss, so that the boss in contracting may shrink away from
the ends of the spokes. When the ends of the spokes are formed in this
manner they should be coated with black lead or other material to prevent the
metal of the boss uniting with them. When the metal of which the boss is
composed has cooled down, then the boss will to some extent have a slight play
upon the spokes, and to prevent this, each of the spokes may after the wheel
bas been annealed be elongated by heating the outer rim and spokes whilst
the boss is kept cool, and then hammering or rolling out each of the spokes

page_text: to elongate them; or in place of this dovetailed grooves may be formed in the
boss around its outer periphery, these grooves being situated in the spaces
between the spokes, and the sides of the spokes where they project out from
the boss are for a short length made to form continuations of the sides of the
dovetail grooves, and then after the wheel has been annealed into each of
the dovetail recesses so formed by the sides of the ends of the spokes and by
the recess in the boss, a piece of heated wrought iron or steel is hammered so
as to fill the recess and prevent the boss from shifting.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to
the exact details described; but what I claim is the application of the process
of casting wheels as above described (viz., the casting the wheel in two parts,
the periphery and arms in one part and the boss in another) to the casting of
wheels in hæmatite iron combined with the subsequent annealing of the metal
so as to obtain a malleable cast-iron wheel.
In witness whereof, I, the said Neil McHaffie, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
NEIL MCHAFFIE. (L.S.)