Improvements.in.Axle Guards for Railway and Tramway Vehicles.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Dec., 1891
3
Complete Specification Left, 12th Sept., 1892-Accepted. 15th Oct., 1892
+
⚫PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements.in.Axle Guards for Railway and Tramway Vehicles.
We, SEPTIMUS HUTTON HEDLEY, of Sandal near Wakefield, Mining.
Engineer, and EDWARD JONES, of East Gawber Colliery, near Barnsley,
Enginewright, both in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of our
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AXLE GUARDS FOR RAILWAY AND
TRAMWAY VEHICLES," to be as follows:-
The objects of our invention are first to construct the axle guards of railway
and tramway vehicles so that the axle boxes may be removed or released from
the guards without having to remove the guard from the wagon as is the case with
guards of ordinary construction and secondly to construct axle guards in such a
manner that if one side becomes strained or worn or otherwise unfit for use the
defective side can be removed and replaced by another without having to remove
the whole guard as is the case with axle guards of ordinary construction.
As the principle of our invention is the same in all classes of vehicles to which it
is applied, a description of it as applied to an ordinary railway, coal or goods
wagon will suffice, in such a wagon the guards as ordinarily constructed are made
of flat bars of wrought iron or steel, bent in the form of an inverted U, with side
wings or stays forged on to each side, the axle box is constructed with grooves
which are made to fit and slide into position between the parallel bars of the
guard and when in position the open end of the guard is closed by means of a
cross-bar or stay which is bolted to the ends of the guard and by means of which
the axle box is prevented from sliding out of the guard in case of accident.
.
When a railway wagon is fitted with guards of the construction herein described
and it becomes necessary to change the brasses or the axle box or the wheels or in
fact any operation which necessitates the removal of the axle box from the guard,
it is necessary to unbolt and remove the bottom cross bar or stay previously
referred to and to lift or jack up the wagon until the lower ends of the guard are
clear of the axle box slides, an operation which sometimes occupies considerable
time thereby causing serious delay. Likewise when one side of such an axle
guard becomes strained or worn or otherwise unfit for use it is necessary to
remove the whole guard and replace it with an entirely new one.
By our improved construction of guard or guards we are enabled to perform
such operations with much less exertion and expenditure of time and we effect
these objects in the following manner.
'
We construct our improved guard or guards in a manner somewhat similar to
that already employed but instead of making the same in one piece we make each
side of the guard separate and distinct from the other side but where necessary
they may be made interchangeable with one another. In some cases we make
such separate sides either out of bars or solid plate or they may be forged, cast or
otherwise. formed and they may be bolted to the sole frame of the wagon and
when in position the open ends closed by means of a cross-bar or stay similar to
the method employed in guards of the ordinary construction but the bolt holes we
form of an elongated shape so that on slackening the nuts of the bolts by which
the guard is secured to the frame of the wagon and loosening the nuts on the
bottom cross bar which may likewise be provided with elongated holes the guards
on each side the axle box may be moved outwards a sufficient distance to clear the
grooves or flanges of the axle box by which means the axle box may be lifted
end ways off the axle without 'having to remove the guard or the bolts from the
wagon and in the same way when the axle box has been replaced the guards may

page_text: be closed back into their original position and secured by the bolts as already
described.
In some cases the two guards may be kept to gauge at the top by means of a
stretcher bar formed of angle ifon, one side of which may be secured to the under
side of the wagon frame and the other side of which may be secured to the axle
guards by suitable bolts or a stretcher bar may be employed fitted with lugs to
clip both sides of each guard so that the guard on one side could not move
without the other and the said stretcher bar may be attached to the guards or to
the wagon frame either by separate bolts or by the same bolts which are employed
to secure the guards to the frame.
As a modification of the last named arrangement the stretcher bar or a plate
may be first attached to the frame of the wagon and the guards afterwards laid on
between the projecting lugs. In such case however it would be necessary to
slacken the bolts sufficiently to allow of the guards to clear the lugs or projections
before they could be moved outwards.
As a further modification the upper part of the guard may be made deep
enough to allow of its being flanged in such a manner as to partially clip the
upper and under sides of the frame of the wagon thereby partially relieving the
bolts of the. vertical and diagonal strains and the latter modification may be
applied either with or without the combination of the stretcher bar or stretcher
plate herein previously mentioned.
As a further modification instead of making the guards to move outwards as a
means of releasing the axle box or in addition to such provision we construct our
improved guard or guards in a similar manner to that already described, only that
instead of the grooves in the sides of the axle box being made to fit and slide upon
the parallel bars of the guard or guards, we increase the distance between the
parallel bars of the guards to allow of the full width of the axle box being, passed
between the same, we then fit on each side of the guard bars, independent slides or
guides which can be bolted or otherwise secured on to each side, so that when it is
desired to remove the axle box, it is only necessary to ease the weight of the
wagon off the springs and on unbolting or loosening these slides or guides, they
can be removed with the axle box endways or otherwise from the guards.
These loose slidės or guides may be cast, forged, stamped, rolled or otherwise
formed of a special section to fit the guards and the axle box.
Dated this 9th day of December 1891.
R. HEBER RADFORD,
Agent for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Axle Guards for Railway and Tramway Vehicles.
We, SEPTIMUS HUTTON HEDLEY; of Sandal near Wakefield, Mining
Engineer, and EDWARD JONES of East Gawber Colliery, near Barnsley, Engine-
wright, both in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of our invention,
for, "IMPROVEMENTS IN AXLE GUARDS FOR RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY
VEHICLES," and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
!
The objects of our invention are first to construct the axle guards of railway
and tramway vehicles so that the axle boxes may be removed or released from
the guards, without having to remove the guard from the wagon, as is the case
with guards of ordinary construction, and secondly to construct axle guards in
such a manner, that if one side becomes strained or worn or otherwise unfit for use,
the defective side can be removed and replaced by another, without having to
remove the whole guard as is the case with axle guards of ordinary construction.
As the principle of our invention is the same in all classes of vehicles to which
S

page_text: it is applied, a description of it as applied to an ordinary railway, coal or goods
wagon will suffice, in such a wagon the guards as ordinarily constructed are made
of flat bars of wrought iron or steel, bent in the form of an inverted U, with side
wings or stays forged on to each side, the axle box is constructed with grooves
which are made to fit and slide into position between the parallel bars of the
guard, and when in position the open end of the guard is closed by means of a
cross bar or stay, which is bolted to the ends of the guard and by means of which
the axle box is prevented from sliding out of the guard in case of accident.
When a railway wagon is fitted with guards of the construction herein described
and it becomes necessary to change the brasses, or the axle box, or the wheels, or
in fact any operation which necessitates the removal of the axle box from the
guard, it is necessary to unbolt and remove the bottom cross bar or stay previously
referred to, and to lift or jack up the wagon until the lower ends of the guard are
clear of the axle box slides, an operation which sometimes occupies considerable
time thereby causing serious delay. Likewise when one side of such an axle
guard becomes strained or worn, or otherwise unfit for use it is necessary to remove
the whole guard and replace it with an entirely new one.
By our improved construction of guard or guards we are enabled to perform
such operations with much less exertion and expenditure of time and we effect
these objects in the following manner.
We construct our improved guard or guards in a manner somewhat similar to
that already employed, but instead of making the same in one piece we make each
side of the guard separate and distinct from the other side, but where necessary
they may be made interchangeable with one another.
In some cases we make such separate sides either out of bars or solid plate, or
they may be forged, cast, or otherwise formed and they may be bolted to the sole
frame of the wagon, and when in position the open ends closed by means of a cross-
bar or stay similar to the method employed in guards of the ordinary construction,
but the bolt holes we form of an elongated shape so that on slackening the nuts of
the bolts by which the guard is secured to the frame of the wagon and loosening
the nuts on the bottom cross bar, which may likewise be provided with clongated
holes, the guards on each side the axle-box may be moved outwards a sufficient
distance to clear the grooves or flanges of the axle box, by which means the axle
box may be lifted end ways off the axle without having to remove the guard or the
bolts from the wagon, and in the same way when the axle box has been replaced
the guards may be closed back into their original position and secured by the bolts
as already described..
In some cases the two guards may be kept to gauge at the top by means of a
stretcher-bar formed of angle-iron, one side of which may be secured to the under-
side of the wagon frame and the other side of which may be secured to the axle
guards by suitable bolts; or a stretcher bar may be employed fitted with two lugs
to keep the inside of each guard to gauge, and the said stretcher bar may be
attached to the wagon frame and the axle guards to the stretcher bar, either by
separate bolts, or by the same bolts which are employed to secure the guards to
the frame, and in either case we provide the guards with elongated holes as herein
previously described.
As a modification of the last named arrangement the stretcher bar or a plate
may be first attached to the frame of the wagon, and the guards afterwards laid
on between projecting lugs on each side of the guard. In such case however it
would be necessary to slacken the bolts sufficiently to allow of the guards to clear
the lugs or projections before they could be inoved outwards.
As a further modification the upper part of the guard may be made deep enough
to allow of its being flanged in such a manner as to partially clip the upper and
under sides of the frame of the wagon or stretcher bar or plate, thereby partially
relieving the bolts of the vertical and diagonal strains, and the latter modification
may be applied either with or without the combination of the stretcher-bar or
stretcher-plate herein previously mentioned.

page_text: A
;
As a further modification instead of making the guards to move outwards as a
means of releasing the axle-box, or in addition to such provision we construct our
improved guard or guards in a similar manner to that already described, only that
instead of the grooves in the sides of the axle-box being made to fit, and slide
upon the parallel bars of the guard or guards, we increase the distance between
the parallel bars of the. guards to allow of the full width of the axle box being
passed between the same, we then fit on each side of the guard bars, independent
slides or guides which can be bolted or otherwise secured on to each side, so.that
when it is desired to remove the axle box, it is only necessary to case the weight of
the wagon off the springs and on umbolting or loosening these slides or guides,
they can be removed with the axle-box endways or without the axle box vertically
or otherwise.
These loose slides or guides may be cast, forged, stamped, rolled or otherwise
formed of a special section to fit the guards and the axle box.
The nature of our invention will be better understood on reference to the
accompanying 2 sheets of drawings in which,
Fig. 1, Sheet 1, represents a side elevation looking on the inside of the sole of a
wagon fitted with one of our improved guards, provided with a stretcher bar
formed of angle iron, one side of which is secured to the underside of the wagon
frame and the other side to the axle guard; the elongated holes in the guard
being shewn partly in full and partly in dotted lines.
Fig. 2, Sheet 1, being an end elevation of the same and
Fig. 3, Sheet 1, a plan.
Figs. 4, 5, and 6, Sheet 1, are three similar views shewing a stretcher bar fitted.
with lugs to keep the inside of each guard to gauge.
Figs. 7, 8, and 9, Sheet 2, are three similar views shewing a modified form of
guard and stretcher bar in which the guard is flanged in such a manner as to
partially clip the upper and under sides of the stretcher bar or plate.
In these views instead of the elongated holes being shewn, the holes in the guard-
plate are made sufficiently large to allow of the bolt heads to pass through, but
the head is retained in position.by means of a notched flanged washer, more clearly.
shewn in Figs. 14 and 15.
Figs. 10 and 11. are a side and end elevation shewing a further modification of
the means for releasing the axle box, which is applicable either to our improved.
guards as herein described, or to solid guards made similar to those ordinarily in
use.
Fig. 12. being a section of the guard with one form of slide or guide bolted
thereto.
Fig. 13. being a similar section shewing a modified form of guard or slide.
Figs. 14 and 15 are enlarged views of the notched flanged washer, sometimes
employed as in Figs. 7, 8 and 9.
The same letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.;.
a, a, are the parallel bars or sides of the guard.
b, b, are the side wings or stays.
c, is the cross bar or stay.
, is the sole frame of the wagon.
e, e, e, are elongated bolt holes formed in the upper part of the guards.
, is a stretcher bar or plate and
9, g, are lugs formed on the same.
h, h, are the bolts by means of which the guard is secured to the sole of the wagon
and where used, to the stretcher-bar or plate.
i, is the bolt or bolts by means of which the stretchèr-bar or plate is secured to
the sole of the wagon.
jj, are the bolts by means of which the cross-bar or stay is .secured to the
separate sides of the guard.
k, k, are the notched flanged washers sometimes used in lieu of the elongated
bolt holes.

page_text: 1,1, are the flanged portions of the guard formed to clip the stretcher bar or
plate or wagon sole as the case may be.
and
m,
n,
is the guide or slide used in the modification illustrated in Figs. 12, and 13,
is the parallel bar or projection fitting the groove in the axle box in which it
slides.
0, is a portion of the axle box.
p, is the bolt or bolts by means of which the guides or slides are secured to the
guard, a.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is
1. In axle guards for railway and tramway vehicles constructing the parallel
bars on which the axle box slides in the form of a separate and distinct guard on
each side the axle box, such separate parts being secured at the top by bolts
passing through elongated holes in the same to the sole frame of the wagon and
secured at their lower ends by means of a cross bar or stay similar to those in use
in ordinary axle box guards but provided with elongated holes, so that on slackening
the nuts of the bolts by which the guards are secured to the frame of the wagon
and loosening the nuts on the bottom cross-bar of the same, the guards on each side
the axle box may be moved outwards and wider apart, a sufficient distance to clear
the grooves or flanges of the axle box so that the axle box may be lifted off the
axle without having to remove the guard or the bolts from the wagon and in the
same way the axle box may be replaced, the guards closed back into their original
position and secured by the bolts, cross-bar and stay in the manner and for the
purposes substantially as herein described and illustrated.
2. In conjunction with the arrangement and combination of parts and appliances
described in Claim 1, the employment of a stretcher bar or plate with or without
lugs in the manner and for the purposes substantially as herein described and
illustrated.
3. In conjunction with the arrangement and combination of parts and appliances
described in Claims 1 and 2, bending, setting or flanging the upper portions of the
axle guards so as to clip the stretcher bar or plate or wagon sole as the case may
be in the manner and for the purposes substantially as herein described and
illustrated.
4. The combination of parts and appliances comprising the slides or guides fitted
to the axle guards on each side the axle box as illustrated in Figs. 10, 11, 12
and 13, by means of which the axle box may be released from the guards without
removing the guard from the wagon in the manner and for the purposes sub-
stantially as herein described and illustrated.
Dated this 9th day of September 1892.
R. HEBER RADFORD,
Agent for the Applicants.