IMPROVE- _ MENTS IN WHEELS FOR STEAM AND Other CarriagE9
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Alley, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
_ MENTS IN WHEELS FOR STEAM AND Other CarriagE9.”
MENTS IN WHEELS FOR STEAM and other Carriage9.
Scaled the 23rd April 1872, and dated the 25th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stephen Alley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
25th October 1871.
I, STEPHEN ALLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
5 Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR STEAM AND OTHER CARRIAGES," to be as follows,
that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the constructing of wheels for steam
and other carriages, so as with comparatively small cost to secure the
O advantages of elastic wheels in a more convenient, satisfactory, and
durable manner than hitherto,

page_text: The improved wheels are designed so that the part touching the
ground flattens to a greater or less extent, whilst the weight of the
carriage is borne to a great extent suspensorily by the part of the tire
which is at the time off the ground.
The desired action is obtained either with an elastic tire consisting of
one or more bands of a suitable clastic metal, such as steel, or with a
tire made up of elastic metal segments jointed together, or with a tire
made up of rigid metal segments, that is, of segments not individually
elastic.
With an elastic band external shoes are employed, and these or some
of them are connected to the centre or other rigid part of the wheel by
radial or transverse bolts, links, or plates, arranged to admit of a limited
radial movement, such radial movement being essential to the intended
action of the structure.
'
When the tire is built up of segments, these or external shoes applied
to them are in like manner to be connected to the centre or rigid part of
the wheel, so as to admit of a limited radial movement. The extent
of flattening of the part in contact with the road will depend on the
amount of the radial movement or play referred to; and screws, spirals, or
inclines may be applied for adjusting the extent of radial movement to
give more or less flattening, and consequent bite or bearing surface, as
circumstances may require.
The radial movement is by preference made quite independent of
driving strain, when the wheel is used as a driving wheel, by fitting the
wheel with rigid side discs, which act directly on the external shoes by
means of pins and slots or links.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Stephen Alley in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN :
ALLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain; Engineer,
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, 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 Stephen Alley, Her special licence
that I, tho said Stephen Alley, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Stephen Alley, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR
STEAM AND OTHER CARRIAGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Stephen Alley, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Stephen Alley, do hereby declaro
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :—
My said Invention has for its object the constructing of wheels for
steam and other carriages, so as with comparatively small cost to secure
the advantages of elastic wheels in a more convenient, satisfactory, and
durable manner than hitherto.
My improved wheels are designed so that the part touching the
ground flattens to a greater or less extent, whilst the weight of the
carriage is borne to a great extent suspensorily by the part of the tire
which is at the time off the ground.
I obtain the desired action with an elastic or spring tire, either con-
sisting of one or more bands of a suitable elastic metal, such as steel, or
made up of elastic metal segments fixed together.
With such an elastic tire I use external shoes, and these, or some of
them, are connected to the centre or other rigid part of the wheel by

page_text: radial or transverse bolts, links, or plates arranged to admit of a limited
radial movement, such radial movement being essential to the intended
action of the structure.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet
of explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing
various modifications of my improved wheels and of their constructive
details. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to
mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
The tire of my improved wheel is a practically continuous band, made
up of one or more plies or breadths of thin spring steel, and connected
to the centre or rigid part of the wheel by appliances which would allow
of the tire being slightly larger than it is if kept truly circular all round.
Thus if in Figure 1 the inner (red) circle represents the size of the actual
tire when in a completely circular form, the outer (black) circle may bo
taken as representing the slightly larger circle, or in other words, as
showing the limits to which the connecting appliances will allow any
part of the tiro to move outwards. The pressure of the load on the road
tends to bear the bottom of the tire inwards, as shown by the flattened
part A, but as the circumferential size of the tire is practically unvarying
the flattening cannot take place at A without the remainder of the tire
moving outwards, the length of the flattened part at A depending in
fact on the extent of the outward movement allowed to the other parts
of the tire. The extent of the flattening can thus be varied by altering
the adjustment and range of the connecting appliances; and I prefer to
make these appliances adjustable (various ways of doing so being herein-
after described) so that the wheels can in every case be put into that
condition of clasticity which will best adapt them for working satis-
factorily under whatever conditions of road and load they may be
subjected to.
Figure 2 is a vertical section, and Figure 3 a sectional side elevation,
of one modification of my improved wheel; Figure 4 being an enlarged
section, and Figure 5 an enlarged end view, of one of the shoes and
parts in immediate connection therewith. The rigid part or framing of
the wheel consists of two parallel cast-iron discs 1, 2, strengthened by
internal radial ribs. One disc 1 is formed with an elongated boss 3 to fit
on the shaft or axle of the traction engine or other carriage to which the
wheel is applied, and the other disc is formed with a larger boss 4 to fit

page_text: on the boss 3 of the first disc. A ring of teeth 5 is shown as cast on one
disc 1 to gear with the driving pinion of the engine. The discs 1, 2, are
connected together by screw bolts 6, and these can be adjusted to set the
discs more or less apart for a purpose herein-after explained. The tire 7
consists of three three-ply bands of spring steel, as best seen in trans-
verse section in Figure 4, and across the outside of these bands there aro
fixed a series of shoes or shoo bars 8 of steel or iron. Inside of the bands
there are a series of horn plates 9, which are fixed to the shoes 8 by
bolts 10 passing between the stecl tie bands 7, thereby attaching them-
selves and the shoes to the tire. The plates 9, which are made by
preference of malleable cast iron, are formed with inclined horns 11,
which project within inclined or conical rims 12 formed for the purpose
on the wheel discs 1, 2. These horn plates 9 combine with the conical
rims 12 to form simple connecting appliances between the spring tire 7
and the rigid part 1, 2, of the wheel, admitting of the radial movement
of cach part of the tire in succession, and also admitting of the con-
venient adjustment of the amount of such radial movement. Thus the
tire being interposed between the rigid part of the wheel or load and the
ground, the discs 1, 2, will be suspended by the upper parts of their
conical rims 12 resting on the horns 11 of the inverted plates 9; at the
same time the pressure thus acting on the tire will make it tend to bulge
out at the sides, and thereby make all the horn plates 9 bear against the
conical rims 12 that the circumferential size of the tire will admit of.
The wheel discs 1, 2, are thus as it were firmly grasped by the tire 7
nearly all round, and excepting only at the bottom part in contact with
the road, and at which part the tire becomes flattened. If the discs 1, 2,
are set closer together by adjusting the screw-connecting bolts 6, less
play or radial movement will be allowed between the horn plates 9 and
the conical rims 12, and the extent of the flattening of the part on the
road will be correspondingly diminished. If the discs are put so close as
to prevent all radial movement, the tire will be thereby rendered com-
pletely circular and rigid. I prefer to make the disc rims 12 simply
conical, but if slippling round of the discs on the horns 11 is feared when
the wheels are used as driving wheels, the rims may be toothed as shown
in Figure 6, the teeth projecting between the horns 11.
Figures 7 and 8 are sections showing a modification in which the
horus 11 are formed on the shoes 8 themselves, a thin clamp plate being
applied inside the tire 7 to hold the bolts 10, whilst a strut 11 is applied
between the horns 11 to prevent their being bended inwards.

page_text: Figures 9 and 10 are sections showing shoes 8 very similar to those in
Figures 7, 8; whilst Figure 9 shows the application to one wheel of two
separate tires 7, each consisting of two three-ply bands. A middle
disc 15 with two conical rims 12 is added to the wheel to take the horns
between the two tires, and in this case adjustment will be effected by E
setting the outer discs 1, 2, equally nearer to or further from the middle
disc 15.
Figures 11 and 12 show a modification of shoe suitable for com-
paratively broad tires (for engines for cultivating land for example),
there being two inner discs 15, and each end of the shoe 8 being held 1
by means of double horns 11 between a pair of discs.
Figure 13 is a vertical section of a steering or non-driving wheel, in
which the appliances for adjusting the discs more or less apart consist of
nuts 16 working on screwed parts of the axle, and right and left hand
screw nuts 17 acting on screw bolts fixed in the discs 1, 2. The 1
arrangement of the shoes 8 and other details is the same as is shown on
an enlarged scale in Figures 28 and 29, herein-after described.
Figure 14 is a side elevation and Figure 15 a sectional view of a
modification in which the spring tire 7 is connected to the rigid part of
the wheel by a series of pairs of rods 18 jointed to some of the shoes 8, 2
and passed loosely through cylindrical rims or flanges 19 cast on the
centre, the radial movement of the rods being limited by nuts screwed
on their inner ends. The centre is cast with a disc 20, in which notches
or slots are formed for the shoe joints to pass through, and which
prevents the shoes from shifting round the wheel. The shoes 8. are 2
shown as rivetted between the steel bands 7 to the inner plates 13, and
an additional steel band 21 is shown as applied near the inner ends of
the rods 18. Cross bars 22 held by shoulders on the rods 18 bear on the
outside of the band 21, and this band acts in just the same way as the
spring tire 7 itself.
Figure 16 shows three modes of uniting the ends of the spring steel
tire strips 7, each mode being applicable either when the tire is made up
of separate segments or when it has only one joint.
3
Figures 17 and 18 are enlarged sectional views of the joint at 28,
Figure 16; Figures 19, 20, represent that at 24; and Figures 21 to 24:
show that at 25. The adjustment to give less flattening may be effected
by enlarging the circumferential size of the tire, and one way of doing

page_text: this is to open the joint 24 or 25, insert a liner of metal, and re-unite the
parts; or the segments or ends of the tire may be set more or less apart
by a screw 26 applied as in Figure 24, or otherwise.
The remaining Figures on the Sheet of Drawings show a few of the
great variety of modifications of which the constructive details of my
improved wheel are susceptible, and will be understood without any very
minute description.
Figure 25 shows the application of round spring steel rods instead of
flat strips for making the tire 7, or these rods may be square or of any
other suitable section.
Figures 26 and 27 show an arrangement of shoe in which the horns 11
are formed on a bar 14, also answering as a strut, and which is notched
and fixed by a key beneath in slots in the side straps of the shoe.
Figure 27 also shows a convenient mode of fitting the conical rims 12,
namely, in separate pieces from the discs 1, 2, which discs may be of
malleable iron. Thus these conical rims 12 can be easily renewed on
being worn without entire new discs being required. In this modifi-
cation also, as no parts of the shoes 8 extend under the edges of the
discs, angle-iron rings 27 are fixed inside to act as stops to limit the
inward movement of any part of the tire.
I may here remark that I do not consider any limit to the inward
movement to be necessary excepting as a precaution against shocks,
such as might be caused by a stone or other object in the road projecting
excessively.
Figures 28 and 29 show a modification in which the shoc 8 is con-
nected by long bolts 10 to a cross bar 14, on the ends of which the
horns 11 are formed. Strut tubes are put on the bolts 10 between the
plato 13 and the bar 14.
It
Figure 30 is a vertical section showing a comparatively light modifi-
cation of my wheel suitable for field artillery, omnibuses, or carts.
is to some extent like the wheel shown in Figures 14 and 15, but the
rods 18 are formed with incline-sided heads 11 at their inner ends, which
heads are held between small discs 1, 2, with conical rims 12, one of the
discs having a screw adjustment to set it closer to or further from the
¡ other.

page_text: Figure 31 shows a mode of applying my plan of spring tire upon a
wheel with ordinary wooden spokes and felloes, rings 28 being sub-
stituted for the discs 1, 2. In this modification also, the tire 7 is shown
without external shoes, being rivetted directly to the horn plates 9.
Figures 32 to 35 represent modifications which differ from that shown
in Figures 14, 15, in having the rods 18 much shorter, and the cylin-
drical holding rims 19 of correspondingly larger diameter.
Figure 33 also shows the application of two independent tires to the
same wheel, and their action with an uneven road.
Figures 36, 37, show the application of a single comparatively thicker
strip of spring steel 7 for the tire, Figure 37 showing how the sides of
the steel band may be bent or coned to engage with the conical rims 12
(instead of the horns 11). In this caso the shoes have to be made like
pattens to allow of the necessary play inwards without the discs 1, 2,
touching the ground.
Figures 38, 39, and 40 show modifications in which the tire 7 is mado
to consist of numerous plics of thin steel or iron or of steel or iron wiro
or rope; and Figures 38 and 40 also show that the conical rims 12 may
be turned outwards instead of inwards, being however in this case made
in separate segments fixed to the discs 1, 2.
In the Provisional Specification of my said Invention I included as a
modification a tiro made up of rigid metal segments jointed together,
and not individually elastic; but as I now believe such a modification
would not answer in practice from want of durability, I abandon any
claim to it.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated; but that
what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,—
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of clastic or
spring tired wheels for steam and other carriages, substantially in the
improved modes herein described and delineated.
2. The constructing of a wheel with a tire consisting of a band
or bands of clastic or spring metal, such tire being of a practically a

page_text: unvarying circumferential size both in whole and in part, and being
connected to the centre or rigid part of the wheel by appliances
admitting of a limited radial movement of each part, substantially as
herein-before described.
3. The applying of the elastic or spring metal band or bands in com-
bination with external shoes either close to such shoes or at any suitable
distance or distances between the shoes and the centre of the wheel,
substantially as herein-before described.
4. The combining of the parts of the wheel in a manner admitting of
the limits of the radial movement being adjusted or altered, substantially
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Alley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of April, in the year
of our Lord Eighteen hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
STEPHEN ALLEY. (L.S.)