CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON AXLETREES, AND ALSO THE BOXES APPLICABLE THERETO
Year: 1830

page_text: MASON'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MASON, of Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Axletree Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King William the Fourth, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of August now
last past, did give and grant unto me, the said William Mason, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Mason, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Mason, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON AXLETREES,
AND ALSO THE BOXES APPLICABLE THERETO;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Mason, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery with six calendar months. next and immediately after the
date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Mason, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and-ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof, that is to say:-

page_text: Figure 1 is an external view of the arm A of the axletree, which is cylin-
A cavity to
drical, and has a solid collar B formed upon its inner end.
contain oil C is made within it, as shewn by dotted lines, from which cavity
a hole D passes to the upper side of the arm and communicates with a shallow
groove E, E, extending all along the cylindrical part of the arm; a cone F is
likewise formed at that part of the arm which adjoins to the collar B.
Fig. 2 is a section of the cast-iron box fitted to the arm of the axletree, it
being bored cylindrically from G to G, and having a hollow cone at H corre-
sponding to the solid cone F of the arm. A cylindrical cavity I is likewise
formed at its inner end to receive the collar B of the arm within it; and at
its outer end a female screw J is cut for the male screw K, formed upon the
cupped oil cap L, shewn separately in Fig. 3, to enter, as is shewn in Fig. 4.
The cupped part of the oil cap L is made conical at M, and has likewise
a short neck N perforated in its centre, so as to convey the oil contained in it
into the cavity C formed in the arm A, as shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 4.
The form of the wooden nave of the carriage wheel is shewn by dotted lines
in Fig. 4. The box and nave are secured upon the arm of the axletree in the
following manner :-Three short wrought-iron screws 0, 0, 0, Figs. 5 and 6,
having jagged ends to them, are firmly held in three short cylindrical pro-
jections P, P, P, which are cast solid with the box, the iron screws being
properly lodged in the mould at the time of casting, and thereby being com-
bined solidly with the iron of the box, and are therefore never likely to become
loosened in use. Fig. 5 is a back and end view of the three projections P, P, P,
and screws 0, 0, 0, in them; and Fig. 7 an opposite end view, shewing the
projections, and is taken at the dotted line in Fig. 2. Two of the projections
and screws are also shewn sideways in Figs. 2, 4, 6, and 8. Q, Fig. 9, is a
wrought-iron circular plate, having a circular hole R in its centre, which
is fitted to a cylindrical part S, formed in the arm A, behind the collar B, as
shewn in Figs. 1 and 4. Three holes T, T, T, are likewise made through this
plate, to correspond with the three screws 0, 0, 0, of the box; and a circular
leathern collar U, Fig. 4, is placed in front of the plate Q (which of course
bas similar holes maile in it, to correspond with those in that plate), and
lodges between it and the back of the iron collar B; and three screwed nuts,
two of which are shewn in Fig. 4, at V, V, are then to be screwed upon the
three screws 0, 0, 0, and thus secure the box and nave upon the axletree.
One of these screwed nuts V is shewn separately in Fig. 10. In order the
more readily to ascertain the exact position of the iron plate Q and leather
collar Uupon the arm, an iron guide pin W, shewn in Figs. 2, 5, 6, and 8, is
solidly affixed by casting into another projection X, formed upon the box, as

page_text: shewn in these Figures, and likewise in Fig. 7. Another leather collar Y,
Figs. 1 and 4, is also placed on the inner face of the iron collar B, and like-
wise a third leather collar Z upon the screw of the cupped cap L, as shewn in
Figs. 3 and 4, which lodges itself between the flat end of the box, and the flat
shoulder of the cap L; and thus when the three screwed nuts, two of which are
shewn at V, V, in Fig. 4, are bound fast, and likewise the screw of the cap L,
the oil is effectually retained in the box and circulates around the arm, and
which circulation is also assisted by four longitudinal cavities made along the
cylindrical part of the inside of the box, three of which are shewn in section in
Fig. 2, and all the four by an end section in Fig. 7.
Figs. 6 and 8 are external views of the box.
Having thus shewn and described the several parts of my said improved
carriage axletrees and boxes, I now add, that the principal improvement
claimed by me consists in the facility with which the boxes, and consequently
the wheels containing them, can be put on and taken off the axletrees at any
time, and which facility is obtained by the three screws 0, 0, 0, being
immoveably affixed in the box, instead of being loose as usual, and conse-
quently the nuts V, V, &c., only need be screwed on and off, as occasion requires.
Another improvement I likewise claim consists in the cavity C to contain oil
made in the arm A, together with the hole D leading from it; and lastly, I
claim as an improvement, the cupped part M of the oil cap L.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Mason, have hereunto set my
hand and seal the Twenty-fourth day of February in the year of