IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WHEELS POR RAILWAYS, AND IN SPRINGS FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, AND IN AXLEGUARDS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES
Year: 1845

page_text: -ТО АШ
WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COM
of Liverpool, Engineer, send greeting.
HENRY SMITH,
WHEREAS Her present most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date:
at Westminster, the Seventh day of August, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Smith, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority; that I, the said Henry Smith, my exors, adñors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Smith; my exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF WHEELS POR RAILWAYS, AND IN SPRINGS FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES,
AND IN AXLEGUARDS FOR RAILWAY CARRIAGES;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Henry Smith, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINUT
Figure 1 shews a plan, and Figure 2, a side or edge view of a ring of iron
produced by coiling a flat bar in the form of a helix around a fixed mandril, or,
in place of coiling the bar, a series of flat rings may be laid one on the other
to obtain the desired thickness for the tyre of a railway wheel, or the iron may
be piled in a ring, or in whatever way the ring is produced, it is to be heated in-
a furnace to the welding heat, and then by pressure or otherwise the whole is to
be welded into a complete ring, so as to be in a state to be forged to the
desired section for a railway wheel. In making tyres for railway wheels it
has been heretofore usual, either to roll a bar of the desired section for a
railway wheel, and then to bend the same into a ring or hoop according to the
size of the wheel, and then by hammering the joint of the two ends the bar is
welded, or else the ring or hoop has been made by rolling out a plain bar of
iron, and bending the same into a hoop or ring, and then welding the two ends,
and afterwards forging the ring by means of rollers, or by hammering into the
section required. In each of these means the weld is only at one place, and
owing to the great mass of metal the same cannot be made with that certainty
desired; and therefore the novelty of the first part of my Invention consists in
producing a ring or hoop of metal (iron or steel) by piling or otherwise, in
place of rolling the same into a bar, and bending it into the form of a ring or
hoop, and welding the ends, as heretofore practised. In carrying out my.
Invention I prefer to make a bar and coil it as first mentioned, but do not
confine myself thereto; and having made such ring or hoop, I heat it to a
welding heat, and then, by a tup, hammer, or other means, I weld the parts.
together so as to make the ring a solid mass of metal. In this state it is in a
proper condition to be forged into a railway wheel tyre of the section desired,
which may be done by hammering, or by means of rollers, as has heretofore
been practised when operating on a hoop or ring of metal produced by bending.
a plain bar and welding the ends. And I would state that I do not claim as
new the processes of welding or forging; this part of the Invention consisting,
as above stated, of making the rings or hoops for railway tyre in a mass, in-
place of making a bar and joining the two ends by welding. In making
railway tyre according to my Invention, if it is desired, I apply steel to the
outer circumference of the hoop, and if the same be made by coiling into the

page_text: helical form, then the flat bar is first made with one edge (the outer edge) or
parts thereof, with steel, as is well understood, and steel may be introduced at
the outer circumference of the ring, when the same is made by piling many
pieces on to a flat ring, and then heating such ring, as above explained.
I will now proceed to explain the second part of my Invention, which has
for its object a mode of making wrought iron naves to railway wheels, and which
consists of forming the ends of the bars, which when bent form the spokes of the
wheels, in such manner that the ends of the bent spokes coming to the centre
of the wheel shall offer a quantity of iron to be welded into a nave. Figure 3
shews a side view of part of a wheel, consisting of a series of bent spokes; and
I would remark that I do not confine myself to the figure of spokes shewn, as
the bars may be bent into other figures in forming them each into two spokes.
Figure 4 shews an edge view of a wheel, shewing the two side plates b,
which are added to complete the nave; and Figure 5 shews a plan and edge
view of a bar (suitable for making two spokes), before bending it into the figure
of spokes desired, and it will be seen that at each end there is an enlargement
a, a, which coming together go to make a portion of the nave of a wheel, and
it is the making bars, each to be bent into two spokes of railway wheels, with
enlargement at their ends, so as to produce or partly to produce the requisite
mass of iron for forming a wrought iron nave to a series of wrought iron bent
spokes, which constitute the novelty of this the second part of my Invention;
at the same time I do not confine myself to the shape of the parts a, though
I believe the shape shewn to be the best for the purpose. In making wheels
by this arrangement I cause the ends a, a, of the several spokes of a wheel
(arranged as shewn at Figure 3), together with the rings b, b, to be heated
together to a welding heat, and then weld the same together, and thus form a
complete nave.
I will now describe the third part of my Invention, which has for its object
the rolling of the tyre or outer perephery of such description of railway
wheels as are made of solid wrought iron, so as to supersede the necessity for
turning, or to reduce the quantity of turning necessary. Figure 6 shews a
section of so much of machinery as will enable me to describe this part of my
Invention; and Figure 7, a plan of the same parts. c, are a series of rollers
grooved to the section of the tyre. A solid wrought iron wheel is to be heated
and placed into the machine, as is shown by the red lines, and motion is to
be communicated to one or more of the rollers c, by a steam engine or other
power, by which means the wheel will be put in motion, and by being in
motion, it will put the other rollers in motion, and be pressed into shape and
truth at the outer circumference; and préfer that a fixed centre pin should

page_text: be used for the wheel to revolve on; and in heating the wheel I avoid as much
as possible heating the centre part of the wheel. The axes of the several
rollers are made so as to slide in slots in the framing, and, if desired, they
may be all simultaneously made to move towards or from.the common centre;
but I have shewn the several axes as being capable of movement separately
by their respective screws, having guages or stops to each to prevent any one
being set up more than another, such stops being fixed according to the size of
wheels to be put into the machine. I have not thought it necessary to shew
the framing and other parts of the machinery, as the engineer will at once
arrange the same according to the convenience offered by the premises where
the machine is to be fixed.
I will now describe the fourth part of my Invention, which has for its object
the shrinking of tyre on to wheels with greater 'truth, and consists of using
cones into which the wheels are forced before receiving tyre, so as to ensure
their correctness, and they are again forced into cones after the tyre has been
shrunk on. In carrying out this part of the Invention I employ a strong
cone (see Figure 8) e; I take the wheel in its hot. state, so soon as the cast
nave is set, and place it into the cone e, and by a lever or other means I force
the wheel into the cone to the parrellel part of the ring e, as shown by dotted
lines. I then set the arms correctly by hammering while the wheel is in a
state of compression. I then place a hot tyre on to the wheel, and I apply
such force to the wheel as will cause it in cooling to pass into a suitable cone e,
Figure 9, by a lever or other pressure, and then cool the same down quickly
with water. By this means a tyre may be shrunk on to wheels with great
correctness.
I will now describe the fifth part of my Invention, which has for its object
another mode of preparing the skelleton wheel to receive the tyre, and of
shrinking tyre on to wheels for railways. Figure 10 shews a section of so
much of a machine as will enable me to explain this part of my Invention';
Figure 11 is a plan, and Figure 12 a part of an end view of the same.
g, g, are a series of segments of a circle suitable for one size of wheels, and
other segments may be introduced within these to serve as filling pieces, so as
to adapt the machine to other sizes of wheels. These segments 9, are capable
of being simultaneously slided to and from the centre of the machine, they
being guided by slots h. These segments are moved simultaneously by ex-
centrics i, i, or by other convenient means, such excentrics moving in openings
formed in the segments 9, as shewn; and motion is communicated to the series
of excentrics by the axes j of those excentrics having cog wheels k fixed
thereon, which take into and are driven by the cog.wheel l, which turns freely

page_text: on the axis m; and to the wheel l.is affixed a bevelled toothed wheel n, so
that when shrinking tyre on to a wheel, as herein described, motion is com-
municated to the wheel n (so as to cause the segments to follow the tyre), by
means of a weighted lever o, the power of which increases as it descends from
the vertical to the horizontal position, and during the shrinking and cooling of
the tyre the lever o is affixed on the axis p (or it may be on the axis s), which,
by means of the pinion q, gives motion to the cog wheel r on the axis s, there
being a bevilled toothed pinion t affixed on that axis, which takes into and
drives the bevilled toothed wheel n. The segments being expanded, a wheel
with its tyre is placed on the. table of the machine, so that as the segments
converge to the common centre the wheel will be controlled in its shape by
the segments while it is being cooled by water, and for this purpose I prefer
to construct this machine within a pit or cistern, so that water may be run
in to cool the wheel tyre, by which machinery. the shrinking on of tyre will
be greatly improved. It will be evident that a similar machine may be used
to prepare the wheel for the tyre, so as to bring the wheel into shape before
shrinking on the tyre, in which case motion must be given to the axle p, by
a band driven by a steam engine or other power acting upon the drum o'.
I will now describe the sixth part of my Invention, which has for its object
an improvement in hydraulic presses used for forcing railway wheels on to the
axle-trees; and the object of this improvement is to arrange such presses that
the power employed should at all times be at command, and this I accomplish
by interposing between the working cylinder of the hydraulic press and the
pump or pumps a second cylinder, the ram of which is weighted to the same
degree as is required to be exerted by the working cylinder, the pipe of con-
nection between the working cylinder and the interposed cylinder having a stop
cock therein, so as to shut off the connection when it is desired to run off the
water from the working cylinder. The interposed cylinder I prefer to have of
greater capacity than the working cylinder or cylinders of the press or presses
in connection therewith. By this arrangement the pump or pumps will be
continuously forcing water into the interposed cylinder, and when the connec-
tion between. it and the working cylinder is shut, the ram in the interposed
cylinder will be forced out, and the vessel becomes more and more filled; but
when the connection is open to the working cylinder, that cylinder will be
filled from the interposed cylinder. And it will be found that by such an
arrangement of hydraulic press, a great saving of time will be effected in
forcing on a succession of wheels on a succession of axles, for it will be under-
stood that the interposed vessel will constantly have a store of water under the
required pressure to fill the working cylinder.

page_text: will now describe the seventh part of my Invention, which has for its
-object the facilitating the turning of the outer periphery of railway wheels; and
this improvement consists in turning the wheel when hot, in place of when
cold, as heretofore practised. For this purpose I prefer the wheels to be at a
good red heat, and I place a whcel on a mandril of a lathe, and I either turn
with the ordinary cutting tools, or I cause a revolving cutter or file to revolve
at a high velocity, as is well understood, so that as the wheel revolves slowly
round, the cutter removes the surface.
I will now proceed to describe the eighth part of iny Invention, which has
for its object the facilitating the making of axle-tree guards, and consists of
heating the plate of iron, and sawing the same into the proper shape whilst
hot, by which a considerable saving of cost will be obtained. Figure 13 shows
a plate of iron suitable for making an axle-tree guard, and I first punch out
or otherwise remove the part d; I then heat the plate, as is well understood
when heating iron to be sawn for other purposes; and when heated, I cause
the plate of iron to be cut by a saw in the lines shown by dots in the Fig. 13.
I will now proceed to describe the ninth part of my Invention, which has
for its object improvements in the making of springs for railway and other
carriages. This part of my Invention consists in giving to the plates, of which
the springs for railway and other carriages are formed, the required bend or
curvature. Figure 14 is a plan, and Figure 15 a longitudinal section of
such part of a machine as will enable me to describe this
part of my Invention.
v is a fixed plate, having a series of slots therein, in which the pins or stops
slide, so that they may be fixed into any desired curve suitable for the form of
a plate of a spring; w is another plate, mounted on a bed, so as to slide
thereon by a screw or other means; this plate carries a series of bars x, each
having a slot, so that it may be fixed in any desired position on the plate w
by which means any desired curved space may be obtained between the stops
u and the bars a; and it will readily be understood that by placing a hot steel
plate (prepared properly for the plate of a spring) between two thin plates of
iron, and then placing them in the space between the stops u and the bars a,
they may be pressed into the desired shape by causing the plate w to move
towards the plate . The spring plate thus shaped may then be cooled and
tempered. Or in place of using the apparatus above described, I construct a
machine suitable for bending spring plates by means of rollers, the arrange-
ment of machinery for this purpose being very similar to the machinery used
for bending railway tyre. Figure 16 shows a plan, and Figure 17 a side
view of a machine such as I employ. a, a, is the bed plate which supports
the rollers b, c, and d. The spring plate to be bent into form is passed between

page_text: the rollers &c, and the required bend is produced by the plate being directed
off' from a straight line in passing through the rollers b, c, by the roller d; and
it will be seen that the axis of the roller & is capable of adjustment, so that any
required curve may be obtained to the plate; the roller c is also capable of.
adjustment, to suit different thicknesses of plate. The rollers are caused to
revolve by the handle h (or other suitable power might be applied) on the
axis of the roller b, and this roller has a pinion 6' on its under side, which
takes into a pinion on the axis of the roller c, the teeth of these pinions being
sufficiently long to admit of the necessary adjustment.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means I
am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise details shown, provided the peculiar
character of either of the nine parts of my Invention be retained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of February, One thousand eight hundred
the year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid Henry Smith came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
T