IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE CF WROUGHT-IRON RAILWAY WHEELS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kershaw, of Brixton, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE CF
WROUGHT-IRON RAILWAY WHEELS."
Sealed the 26th January 1855, and dated the 10th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kershaw at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th October 1854.
I, JOHN KERSHAW, of Brixton, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF WROUGHT-IRON RAILWAY WHEELS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of wrought-iron railway wheels,
either with discs or with spokes. The manufacture of the wheel is effected
by means of several distinct processes. The boss or nave is made by piling
together pieces or slabs of iron, and welding them together under a hammer
and in dies or moulds; the anvil and hammer for which purpose have
sections so formed as to produce a nave of the shape required, with a web or
fin around it, to have fixed thereto the disc or spokes, which is done by
welding the fin and dise all round by suitable tools and hammer, according
to the form of wheel. An annular disc of plate iron is cut out or formed
(or, in place of a disc, spokes are formed,) into the required shape, the

page_text: inner circumference corresponding with the web on the nave, and the outer
circumference with the web on the tyre. The tyre is formed by rolling, and
has a projecting web or fin formed thereon, to have welded thereto the dise
or spokes, by means of tools of such a form as to effect a weld round the
whole circumference at one or more processes of welding; or the several
parts may be brought together by one process of welding, and the same
result produced, viz, a solid wrought-iron wheel, consisting of a nave, a disc
(or spokes), and tyre, which being first made separate, as above explained, are
at one or more processes welded together, as described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Kershaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
KERSHAW, of Brixton, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of October, 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 Kershaw, Her special licence that I, the said John Kershaw,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Kershaw, 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, exer-
cise, 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 WROUGHT-IRON RAILWAY WHEELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Kershaw, 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 Kershaw, 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):

page_text: This Invention relates to the manufacture of wrought-iron railway wheels,
either with discs or with spokes. The manufacture of the wheel is effected
by means of several distinct processes. The boss or nave is made by piling
together pieces or slabs of iron, and welding them together under a hammer
and in dies or moulds; the anvil and hammer for which purpose have
sections so formed as to produce a nave of the shape required, with a web or
fin around it, to have fixed thereto the disc or spokes, which is done by
welding the fin and disc all round by suitable tools and hammer, according to
the form of wheel.
An annular disc of plate iron is cut out or formed (or, in place of a disc,
spokes are formed,) into the required shape, the inner circumference corre-
sponding with the web on the nave, and the outer circumference with the web
on the tyre. The tyre is formed by rolling, and has a projecting web or fin
formed thereon, to have welded thereto the disc or spokes, by means of tools
of such a form as to effect, a weld round the whole circumference at one or
more processes of welding; or the several parts may be brought together by
one process of welding, and the same result produced, videlicet, a solid wrought-
iron wheel, consisting of a nave, a disc (or spokes), and tyre, which being first
made separate, as above explained, are at one or more processes welded
together, as described.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figures III. and IV. show sections of the several parts of which a wheel is
constructed according to my Invention; A is the nave, which is forged or
formed with a web or pin a, a, around it; B is an annular disc of plate iron
cut or formed into the required shape; the inner circumference corresponds
with the web a, a, of the nave, and the outer circumference of this disc
corresponds with the web or fin c, c; formed on the interior of the outer ring
or tyre C of the wheel. Figure I. shows an anvil D, and an upper die or
hammer biock E, which it is preferred should be put in motion by steam, in
the ordinary manner of steam hammers, in order to form a mass of iron F
into the preparatory form for making a nave for a wheel. Figure II. shows a
section of another anvil G, and a die or hammer block to be worked by steam,
in the ordinary manner of a steam hammer, in order to convert the block F
into a nave A, with a projecting fin or web a, a, as shown. I would, however,
remark, that other means may be resorted to for forging or forming the
naves of wheels suitable for carrying out my Invention. The parts of a wheel

page_text: A, a, a, B, and C, c, c, may be welded together in any suitable manner; but the
means I prefer are those shown by the Drawing, which I will now describe.
Figure V. shows a section of an anvil H, suitable for receiving the parts of a
wheel, in order that the welds at the parts B, a, a, and the parts B, c, c, may
be welded. The Figure shows the parts B, a, a, in the act of being welded by
the hammer block I of a steam hammer. The parts a, a, B, having been
raised to a suitable welding heat, they are placed together on the anvil H,
and the hammer I put in motion. Figures VI. and VII. show parts of a plan
and elevation of a hammer block J, suitable for welding the joints formed by
the parts c, c, B, when these parts have been raised to a suitable welding heat,
and placed on the anvil H. In order to heat the parts c, c, B, to a welding
heat, I prefer to use a furnace such as is shewn in Figures VIII. and IX.,
which respectively represent an elevation in section and a plan in section. K
is a circular recess on the upper part of the furnace, which receives the nave A
of the wheel; the disc or plate B rests on the parts surrounding such recess,
and the flanched tyre is supported, as shewn. L is a cover, which rests on and
closes in the furnace at the top in such manner that an annular chamber M
is produced within the ring or tyre C of the wheel; N is a flue from a
suitable fire or furnace, which fluc opens into the chamber M, and the interior
of that chamber, and the parts c, and B, of the wheel also; and the heat and
products of combustion then descend in the flue O, and pass away to the
chimney. In the above description I have spoken of the intermediate part B
of a wheel as being an annular disc, but other forms, such as a series of
spokes, may be used in place thereof.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
manufacture of wrought-iron railway wheels by combining and welding parts
A, a, a, B, and C, c, c, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kershaw, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
JOHN KERSHAW. (L.S.)