AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY WHEEL.
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
"
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY WHEEL.'
-A communication from abroad by Samuel Franklin Phelps, of
the City and State of New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 3rd October 1871, and dated the 5th July 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th July 1871.
I, HENRY EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF
RAILWAY WHEEL," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct a railway wheel which
shall be cheap, durable, and solid, with provision against injurious effects
arising from concussion, and which shall be generally efficient and
superior in numerous respects to other railway wheels.

page_text: The Invention consists in a wheel which is composed of a steel tire,
a solid wooden web made up in sections of sector form with an india-
rubber strip or ring interposed between its periphery and the inside of
the tire, and side plates forming or having attached to them the hub,
and arranged so as to clamp the tire and brace the whole together.
The side plates are secured by bolts made to pass through them and
the wooden web at points near to the tire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th January 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lanc, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Henry Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Edward Newton,
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 "AN
IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY WHEEL," being a communication to
me from abroad by Samuel Franklin Phelps, of the City and State
of New York, in the United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Henry Edward Newton, 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 the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
The object of this Invention is to construct a railway wheel which
shall be cheap, durable, and solid with provision against injurious effects
arising from concussion, and which shall be generally efficient and
superior in numerous respects to other railway wheels.
The Invention consists in a wheel which is composed of a steel tyrc,
a solid wooden web made up in sections of sector form with an india-
rubber strip or ring interposed between its periphery and the inside
of the tyre and side plates forming or having attached to them the hub,
and arranged so as to clamp the tyre and brace the whole together.
The side plates are secured by bolts made to pass through them and
the wooden web at points near to the tyre.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents an outside face view
of a railway wheel constructed in accordance with the Invention;
Fig. 2, a similar view with the outside plate and hub removed; and
Fig. 3, a transverse section of the wheel. Similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts throughout the several Figures.
A represents the tyre, which is made of steel and of the usual
configuration on its exterior, also slightly taper internally or preferably
so; B is the solid wooden web composed of sections of a sector shape.
The fibre of the wood runs in direction of the length of the sectors,
that is, at right angles to the chords of their arcs or thereabouts. The
sections arc glued or secured together to constitute a solid disk having
an cyc or opening 6 in its centre. This wooden web is of somewhat
less diameter than the inside of the tyre, and is made either straight
or slightly tapering on its outer periphery and so that when inserted
within the tyre it is made to wedge tight or hold firm between it and
the tyre an india-rubber strip or ring C. Applied to the faces of this
web B are metal side plates D, D, preferably of an openwork construction
and formed or provided with an internally projecting hub portion d,
which may either be a projection from the one plate or be divided to
form a projection from each plate, and which fits through the eye b
of the web to form a metal sleeve for reception of the axle. These side

page_text: and hub plates D, D, are constructed to lic flat against or on the faces
of the wooden web so that they slightly overlap the inner edges of the
tyre, the inside plate entering an annular recess in the tyre. The plates
thus applied are fastened to cach other and so caused to hold the several
parts of the wheel firmly together and to clamp the tire by means of
screw bolts E, which pass through the plates and web and are secured
by nuts on the outside of one of the plates. The plates extend up to
and embrace the tyre, and thus allow of the clamping bolts being placed
very near to the latter, thereby ensuring great rigidity or firmness and
a perfect clamping of the tyre. The rubber ring C prevents the
crystallizing effect upon the axle which is liable to arise from concussion
of the solid wheel on the rails.
com-
Having now set forth the nature of the said Invention as
municated to me by my foreign correspondent, and having explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, constructing
railway wheels in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.