Improvements in the Manufacture of Axles for Locomotives, Railway or Road Vehicles, and the like.
Year: 1899

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of Axles for Locomotives, Railway
or Road Vehicles, and the like.
We, FELIX GROss, Manager, and JOHN WILLIAM WAILES, Mechanical Engineer,
both of 52, Dean Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, in the County of Northumberland,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of axles for loco-
motives, railway or road vehicles and the like.
At present axles are forged out of parallel blooms or bars by steam hammers
or presses and in two operations, or they are machined out of parallel bars. In
forged axles it is customary to heat and forge to shape one half and then heat
and forge the other half. In consequence of these two local heatings and forg-
ings from opposite directions it is necessary to carefully anneal the steel axles
afterwards in order to make them safe and reliable in use. However carefully
these two forging operations may be carried out, the axles cannot be made alike
in size and weight, or all parts exactly circular and concentric. Nearly all axles
If they
for railway vehicles are made taper from the wheel part to the middle.
are machined taper out of parallel bars, the cost of machining and the waste of
material are considerable. If they are forged taper, no two axles can be identical
in this part.
The object of this invention is to roll or press in one operation axles from
blooms or bars heated uniformly over their entire length, and producing any
number of exact duplicates, perfectly sound, with all the parts concentric, and
with the flow of the metal uniform in one direction of the length. No subse-
quent reheating is required for annealing purposes, there being no local heating
or forging from opposite directions. For this purpose the bloom or bar in a
uniformly heated state, and somewhat larger in diameter than the largest
diameter of the finished axle is passed in a longitudinal direction between large
rolls or in presses between radially moving dies, preferably four in number. Two
of these rolls or press dies lie in the same horizontal plane and two in the same
vertical plane. The axes of the two vertical rolls or press dies are respectively
above and below the horizontal rolls or dies and in a vertical plane passing
through the centres of both horizontal rolls or dies. All the rolls or dies have the
same circumferential velocity and all converge at the point of contact.
edges of the circumferential faces of each roll are mitred so that each roll makes
at such place good contact with the other two standing at right angles to the
same. Dies or recesses are sunk in the roll faces of the required length and form
so as to embrace one fourth of the circumference of the axle that is being rolled.
Instead of sinking dies in the rolls they may be sunk in rings or tyres which
are fitted on the rolls, so that different sizes of axles can be made by using corre-
sponding rings or tyres. With this invention a bar is formed into one or a number
The

page_text: of connected axles, depending on the length of the bar. The axles are afterwards
cut into their proper lengths by a saw or other suitable means.
Dated this 12th day of January 1899.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
Agents to Applicants, 18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Axles for Locomotives, Railway
or Road Vehicles, and the like.
We, FELIX GROSS, Manager, and JOHN WILLIAM WAILES, Mechanical Engineer,
both of 52, Dean Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, in the County of Northumberland,
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:--
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of axles for loco-
motives, railway or road vehicles and the like.
At present axles are forged out of parallel blooms or bars by steam hammers
or presses and in two operations, or they are machined out of parallel bars. In
forged axles it is customary to heat and forge to shape one half and then heat
and forge the other half. In consequence of these two local heatings and forg-
ings from opposite directions it is necessary to carefully anneal the steel axles
afterwards in order to make them safe and reliable in use. However carefully
these two forging operations may be carried out, the axles cannot be made alike
in size and weight or all parts exactly circular and concentric. Nearly all axles
for railway vehicles are made taper from the wheel part to the middle. If they
are machine tapered out of parallel bars, the cost of machining and the waste of
material are considerable. If they are forged taper, no two axles can be identical
in this part.
The object of this invention is to roll or press in one operation axles from
blooms or bars heated uniformly over their entire length, and producing any
number of exact duplicates, perfectly round, with all the parts concentric, and
with the flow of the metal uniform in one direction of the length. No subse-
quent reheating is required for annealing purposes, there being no local heating
or forging from opposite directions. For this purpose the bloom or bar in a
uniformly heated state, and somewhat larger in diameter than the largest
diameter of the finished axle is passed in a longitudinal direction between large
rolls or radially moving dies, preferably four in number. Two of these rolls or
press dies lie in the same horizontal plane and two in the same vertical plane.
The axes of the two vertical rolls or press dies are respectively above and below
the horizontal rolls or dies and in a vertical plane passing through the centres of
both horizontal rolls or dies. All the rolls or dies have the same circumferential
velocity and all converge at the point of contact.
The annexed drawings illustrate the invention in which
L
Fig. 1 is an end elevation and Fig. 2 a sectional elevation showing the arrange-
ment of the system of rolls for carrying out the invention. Fig. 3 is an end
elevation and Fig. 4 a sectional elevation of the arrangement of radially moving 4
dies, the latter figure showing means for operating the same.
Fig. 5 shows a length of bar to be rolled into an axle by the arrangement
shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Fig. 6 shows an example of the finished axle.
By the arrangement of Figs. 1 and 2 a bar of any suitable length may be rolled

page_text: into a series of axles which axles may be of any convenient length according to
the length of the die or dies or recesses E in the rolls A A. The bar after it has
been rolled is cut into the proper lengths. The vertical rolls A and the horizontal
rolls A¹ are mounted by their shafts C in a suitably formed bracket or bedding B
which may be in one or built up of various parts.
The shafts C to which the rolls are rigidly fixed can be actuated by any suitable
machinery or power and are respectively rotated at the same speed, so that all the
rolls have the same circumferential velocity, but the rolls in each pair of rolls
rotate in opposite directions, so that all converge at the point of contact. The dies
or recesses E can be sunk in the peripheral faces of the rolls or radially moving
dies, or in detachable rings or tyres, which are fitted on the rolls or dies and
secured thereto in any convenient manner. By this arrangement axles of
different sizes can be made according to the forms of the recesses or dies sunk in
the detachable tyres, with one and the same apparatus.
In the arrangement shewn in Figs. 3 and 4 radially moving dies in the form
of quadrants G G are shown which are mounted and oscillate on shafts or
pins F in the bracket B. The movement is given for example by the hydraulic
cylinder H having a ram J working therein. K is a crosshead fixed to the
ram J, and connected by links L to a ring D. The ring D is connected to the
quadrants by means of rods M the connection being at the points MD. The
rods M are preferably provided with means for adjusting their length. Ties or
struts N are arranged connecting the cylinder H to the bracket B. A cylinder P
with ram Qis arranged for returning the ram J after it has made its outward
stroke. Instead of using the cylinder P the ram I may be provided with a
piston. The action of the hydraulic machinery here shown can be readily under-
stood. In this construction of radially moving sector dies a short blank as shown
in Fig. 5 is used which can be rolled for instance into the form of axle shown in
Fig. 6. The edges of the circumferential faces of the rolls or sector shaped dies
are mitred so that each roll or sector makes at such place good contact with
the other two standing at right angles to the same. The dies or recesses are
sunk in the roll or sector faces or in the rings or tyres of the same so as to each
embrace one fourth of the circumference of the axle rolled.
To ensure that the bar does not slip when between the rolls if necessary small
conical or other shaped recesses may be formed in the dies. These recesses will
cause small projections to be formed on the finished axle from which they can be
easily removed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is
Improvements in the manufacture of axles for locomotives, railway or road
vehicles and the like consisting in passing a bar, heated uniformly and of some-
what larger diameter than the finished axle endwise between rolls or longitu-
dinally movable dies four in number, two of which then lie in the same horizontal
plane and two in the same vertical plane, the circumferential faces of the rolls
or dies being provided with suitable dies or recesses, each embracing a fourth or
other part of the circumference of the axle rolled, and having their edges niitred
so as to ensure a good contact between one another, the respective rolls or dies
being rotated or moved at the same circumferential velocity.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
Agents to Applicants, 18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London.