AN INDEPENDENT WHEEL ATTACHMENT FOR RAILWAY, TRAMWAY AND OTHER CARS
Year: 1885

page_text: VAD
I JOSEPH HODGKINS of 26 Coten End, Warwick Warwickshire Mechanical
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for AN INDEPENDENT
WHEEL ATTACHMENT FOR RAILWAY, TRAMWAY AND OTHER CARS to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to a contrivance for enabling Cars having flanged wheels,
such as Railway Rolling Stock, Tram Cars, etc, to round the curves of the rails
with the least possible amount of friction, and wear & tear, and with the expen-
diture of little if any more tractional force than when running upon the straight
rails, by means of a loose or independant wheel upon one end of each axle, arranged
in such manner as to carry its portion of weight and to offer the same resistance to
the Brake as a wheel secured rigidly to the axle in the ordinary manner.
The object is to facilitate the movement of such Cars, when upon curved rails,
the. prevention of accidents through the said Car running off the track owing to
the tendency of cars having both wheels fixed to each axle to continue in a straight
line, to reduce wear of the flanges of the wheels caused by the grinding of the
same upon the curved rails, and to relieve the horses or other motor of the extra
strain necessarily exerted in drawing such Cars around the curves.
My said invention consists of a steel or other metal Sleeve placed upon one end
of each axle, made of sufficient length to receive the wheel and extend through the
axle box, the axle being reduced or turned down to receive the same, the said
sleeve is made of the same form and diameter as the journal end of an ordinary
axle, and having a shoulder or step about midway in its length which bears against
a corresponding shoulder formed upon the axle, for the purpose of keeping the
sleeve and wheel in position and to correct gauge, by this means a proportional
weight of the Car bears direct upon the loose wheel through the medium of the
said sleeve, and no more or less amount of friction is set up than at the plain end
of the axle, no undue skidding of the wheels is therefor occasioned by the same
being more readily stopped when the brakes are applied, the said sleeve being
carried through the Axle Box together with the axle bears against the front plate
of the said box in the same manner as an ordinary axle for the prevention of
Spreading.

page_text: My said arrangement for the attachment of the Independant or Loose Wheel
renders the same entirely self contained as to the carrying its portion of the weight
and resistance to the brake pressure, the axle serving only as a steadier or shaft
for the purpose of keeping the said Independant Wheel in position and parallel to
the one fixed upon the axle.
I do not confine myself to one sleeve at one end of each axle only, but may put
a sleeve upon each end of such axle for the purpose of anticipating the galling of
one sleeve so that the effect of my said invention may not be nullified by the one
Independant Wheel becoming fixed through galling or corrosion, nor do I confine
myself to placing the said sleeve at one end of the axle, I may cut the axle into
two pieces at any point between the wheels and place a sleeve on one end thereof
and thereby obtain the said independant motion of one wheel to the other.
The feature of novelty and the object to be obtained by my said Invention being
the fixture of each wheel to that portion of the axle or sleeve which runs in the
axle box nearest to it, for the purpose of taking the weight of the Car and strain
of the brakes direct.
.C
Dated the twenty-first day of December," One thousand eight hundred and

page_text: I, JOSEPH HODGKINS, 26, Coten End, Warwick, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The object of my eaid Invention is to enable railway rolling stock, tram cars and
other cars having flanged wheels to run round curved rails without any liability
to run off the rails and with the least, possible amount of friction and wear and
tear on the flanges of the wheels.
According to my said Invention I employ a loose or independent wheel upon one
end of each axle arranged as hereinafter described in such a manner as to carry its
portion of weight and to offer the same resistance to the brake as a wheel secured
rigidly to the axle in the ordinary manner.
On the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 represents in part sectional elevation one
of the axles of a tram car or the like having my independent wheel attachment at
one end and an ordinary fixed wheel at the other; Fig. 2 is an elevation of that
end of the axle on which the said independent wheel attachment revolves; Fig. 3
is a sectional elevation and Fig. 4 an end elevation of the loose wheel and attach-
ment separately; Fig. 5 represents a modification of my Invention as hereinafter
fully described.
I will first refer more particularly to Figs. 1, 2, 3 & 4 in which the same letters
of reference indicate the same parts.
My said Invention consists of a steel or other metal sleeve marked a placed upon
one end of the axle b at the other end of which is fixed the ordinary wheel d. The
said sleeve a which is free to turn on the axle b is made of sufficient length to
receive the wheel c which is fixed thereon and to form a journal a' by extending
through the axle box. The end of the axle b on which the sleeve a fits is reduced
or turned down so that the outside of the sleeve will be of the same form and
diameter as the ordinary journal b¹ at the other end of the axle.
A shoulder or
step a is formed about midway in the length of the sleeve a which bears against a
corresponding shoulder b² formed on the axle for the purpose of keeping the sleeve
and wheel in position on the axle and to the correct guage.
By making the wheel c independent of the wheel d as above described they can
revolve at different speeds when running round a curve and it will be seen that
through the medium of the sleeve a a proportional weight of the car bears directly
upon the loose wheel c and no greater or less amount of friction is set up when the
brakes are applied than at the opposite plain end of the axle. The sleeve a being
carried through the axle-box with the axle b as above described bears against the
front plate of the said axle-box in the same manner as an ordinary axle for the
prevention of spreading.
I do not confine myself to a sleeve at one end of each axle only, but may put a
sleeve upon each end of such axle, for instance as shewn by Fig. 5 where each of

page_text: the wheels o, c, are provided with sleeves a similar to that herein before described
with reference to Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4. By providing a sleeve at each end of the axle
I anticipate one sleeve becoming fixed through corrosion or other causes which
would nullify.the effect of my Invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
The independent wheel attachment for railway, tramway and other cars herein-
before described and illustrated by the accompanying drawing, that is to say, a
cylindrical sleeve running freely on the axle and forming one of the axle journals
and to which sleeve one of the axle wheels is fixed substantially as and for the
purposes herein before described and illustrated.