IMPROVEMENTS O COM AMERY RAILWAY TIRES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Firth, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Merchant and Steel Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
O COM AMERY RAILWAY TIRES"
Sealed the 14th November 1865, and dated the 25th May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Firth at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
May 1865.
I, JOHN FIRTH, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Merchant and Steel
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAST-STEEL RAILWAY TIRES," to be as
follows:-
My said Invention consists in hammering a hollow steel casting or tube of
cast steel on a mandrel until it is reduced in thickness, and then again ham-
mering it between tools of appropriate shape for the purpose of raising
projections to form the flanges of the finished tires, and so solidifying the
metal. For this purpose a hollow cylindrical casting of a length suitable for
making several tires is employed, which, when it has been hammered between
the face of a hammer and anvil in which grooves are formed to produce raised
parts at intervals around the cylinder, the same is placed in a lathe in order
that the cylinder may be cut through and divided at the parts where the
projections are formed, and it is preferred that each projection should be of a
size to produce the two flanges of two tires, but this is not essential. The

page_text: cylinder having been thus divided or cut into parts, each part or ring being
suitable for forming a flanged tire, such parts or rings are to be finished in an
ordinary tire rolling mill. By these several operations, and especially by the
whole cast-steel cylinder being first hammered in one large mass and after-
wards cut and finished as above explained, the tires are more solid and better
in all respects than tires cast singly and afterwards rolled, as at present. In
place of the casting of steel being cylindrical on its external surface, and in
place of producing the several projections around the exterior of the hollow
casting by forging or hammering, as above explained, the casting may be
produced having on its external surface several projections suitable for making
the flanges of several railway wheel tires, in which case the casting of steel
would be cut as before described in a lathe into several rings, each suitable
to form a flanged tire when rolled in a tire-rolling mill, by which the manu-
facture of steel railway tires is improved as compared with the practice of
making a separate casting for each tire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Firth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FIRTH, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Merchant and Steel Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Firth, Her special licence that I, the said John
Firth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Firth, 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-STEEL RAILWAY TIRES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Firth, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of

page_text: 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 Firth, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My said Invention consists in hammering a hollow tube of cast steel on a
mandril until it is reduced in thickness, and then again hammering it between
tools of appropriate shape for the purpose of raising projections to form the
flanges of the finished tires, and so solidifying the metal. For this purpose a
hollow cylindrical casting, Figures 1 and 2; of a length suitable for making
several tires, is employed, which is first well hammered on a mandril to
reduce its thickness and render it more tough. It is then hammered between
the face of a hammer and anvil, Figures 3 and 4, in which grooves are formed
to produce raised parts at intervals around the cylinder. It is then removed
from the mandril and placed in a lathe in order that the cylinder may be cut
through and divided at the parts where the projections are formed, as is
indicated by dotted lines in Figure 3, and it is preferred that each projection
should be of a size to produce the two flanges of two tires, but this is not
essential, as each projection may be produced suitable for one flange, in which
case the cut, in place of being through a proje ion, will be on one side of it.
The mandrils employed when bammering the cast cylinders should have a
sufficient taper to facilitate their removal. The cylinder having been thus
divided or cut into parts, each part or ring being suitable for forming a
flanged tire, such parts or rings are to be finished in an ordinary tire rolling
mill, such as is used for rolling endless or hoop tires; by these several
operations, and especially by the whole cast-steel cylinder being first ham-
mered in one large mass and afterwards cut and finished, as above explained,
the tires are more solid and better in all respects than tires cast singly and
afterwards rolled, as at present, or than tires cast together in the form of a
cylinder, but not hammered or rolled. In place of the casting of steel of a
uniform cylindrical form on its external surface, and in place of producing the
several projections around the exterior of the hollow casting by forging or
hammering, as above explained, the casting may be produced having on its
external surface several projections, Figures 5 and 6, suitable for making the
flanges of several railway wheel tires, in which case the casting of steel would
be cut, as before described, in a lathe into several rings, each suitable to form
a flanged tire when rolled in a tire rolling mill; or the casting, Figures 5

page_text: and 6, may be hammered between a hammer and anvil, such as are shewn in
Figures 3 and 4, before cutting the cylinder into rings, by which the manu-
facture of steel railway tires is improved 'as compared with the practice of
making a separate casting for each tire, or as compared with the casting the
whole in a cylindrical form and of the shape ultimately required when cut and
turned, but without hammering and rolling.
I do not claim either of these two last-mentioned processes, but what
I claim is,
First, the hammering into forms suitable for railway wheel tires cast steel
when in a cylindrical form, and before it is cut or subdivided into such tires,
substantially as described.
Secondly, the formation of railway wheel tires by first making a cylinder,
substantially as described and delineated in Figures 5 and 6, and then dividing
and rolling it into separate tires.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Firth, havo hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
ARTHUR WIGHTMAN,
Solicitor,
5, Bank Street, Sheffield.
JOHN FIRTH. (L.S.)