IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE WHEELS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander M'Neile and James
Slater at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 16th February 1869.
We, ALEXANDER M'NEILE and JAMES SLATER, both of John Street,
Pentonville, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE WHEELS,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention of improvements in carriage wheels relates, first,
to certain improved modes of constructing the felloes of wheels and
securing the ends of the spokes thereto; second, to improvements in the
construction of the naves and axle-boxes of wheels, and relates more
particularly to cast or wrought iron axle-boxes or naves.
One of the principal objects of the first part of the Invention is to so
construct the felloes of wheels that should a part of the felloe, or one
or more of the spokes, become damaged, such damaged part or parts may
be removed and repaired or new parts substituted with greater facility
than can be done with wheels of the ordinary construction and without

page_text: the necessity of removing the whole or greater part of the felloe. To
this end we form the felloes of wheels of angle iron or trough or channel
iron bent to the proper curve according to the diameter of the intended
wheel. The felloes may be made of any convenient number of pieces
or of only one or two pieces according to the kind of wheel it is intended
to make, and the joints may be either scarf joints which will be secured
by transverse pins or bolts or butt joints which will be secured by fishing
plates placed inside under the joint and secured by pins, bolts, or rivets,
or the felloe may be made in one length, and when bent to the proper form
the ends of the felloe may be welded together so as to form a secure
joint. The outer ends of the spokes will bear against the back of the
fishing plates which cover the joints when the felloe is made of several
pieces, and they will be kept in place by filling pieces placed inside the
trough and secured in any convenient manner. If angle iron be used it
may be cut up into short sections and arranged to break joint, the several
parts being secured together by transverse bolts. A trough or channel
will thus be formed as in the other instance to receive the ends of the
spokes and filling pieces. The several parts may be fastened together
as already mentioned by transverse bolts (either single or double) which
may be screwed up on the inside of the trough so as to hold the
several parts firmly together, or they may be rivetted together.
Our first improvement in the axle-boxes relates to the construction
and arrangement of the oil chamber for lubricating the axle, and consists
in casting or forming in the iron nave or box of the wheel a vertical
chamber or bottle closed at top by a screw plug, and open at bottom to
the cylindrical space which receives the axle; or if preferred the oil
bottle may be removable and may be screwed into a hole made in the
axle-box for the purpose. When the axle is screwed in its place the
oil bottle or chamber may be filled with oil, which will thus be supplied
to the axle as it rotates. This construction of lubricating apparatus will
be found to act much better than the annular chamber which has
sometimes been adopted, as the latter is apt to cut or wear away the axle
unequally.
The next improvement relates to the means of securing the axle in the
box or nave, and consists in cutting a screw on the end of the axle so as
to receive a screw nut provided with a flange or shoulder, and when

page_text: screwed up this screw nut will hold the axle in place. Over this nut
is screwed a cap which will prevent the escape of oil or grease from the
inside of the axle-box. The object of this improvement is to convert
the ordinary grease axle into an oil axle.