IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WHEELS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Baron Henry de Bode, of 8, Albert Street,
Camden Road, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WHEELS'
"
Sealed the 17th March 1854, and dated the 17th September 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Baron Henry de
Bode at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 17th September 1853.
I, Baron HENRY DE BODE, of 8, Albert Street, Camden Road, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WHEELS" to be as
follows:-
This Invention is applicable to that class of wheels where bent wood
is employed in constructing of the felloes, and consists of causing the
wood to be heated when immersed in oil or fatty matters, and when
well saturated and still hot the wood is placed on a table having a fixed
mould and a sliding counter would put into motion by screws, by
which the wood is bent into the curve desired, and is held till cold and

page_text: +
or felloe of a wheel the ends are clothed with sheet metal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Baron Henry de Bode in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
Baron HENRY DE BODE, of 8, Albert Street, Camden Road, in the
County of Middlesex-send-greeting-
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, -the-said-Baron Henry de Bode, Her
special licence that I, the said Baron Henry de Bode, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Baron
Henry de Bode, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF WHEELS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Baron Henry de Bode,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Baron Henry de Bode, 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 thereof (that is to say):
This Invention is applicable to that class of wheels where bent wood
is employed in constructing of the felloes, and consists of causing the

page_text: I wood to be heated when immersed in oil or fatty matters, and when
well saturated and still hot the wood is placed on a table having a fixed
mould and a sliding counter mould put into motion by screws, by
which the wood is bent into the curve desired, and is held till cold and
set;, and in order to give strength to the ends of the parts of the ring
or felloc of a wheel the ends are clothed with sheet metal.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed
to describe the manner of performing the same. The wood to be used,
according to my Invention in the construction of felloes for wheels, in
place of being cut to the form or curve desired, is to be straight, and
bent into the proper curve for the size of wheel intended. I would,
however, remark that it is not new to bend wood by the aid of steam
and a suitable press into the forms suitable for making the felloes of
wheels. I do not, therefore, claim to bend wood-for-such--purposes.
My improvements consist of causing the wood to be first subjected to
heat when immersed in oil or fatty matter, and I prefer to use vegetable
oils. I use a suitable boiler or trough to contain the oil or fatty matter,
which I prefer to heat by a steam jacket, and the wood remains subject
to the hot, oil or fatty matter for about ten. to fifteen minutes. The
wood having been thus subjected to heat when immersed in oil or fatty
matters is to be, whilst still hot, bent into the form desired, and retained
till cold, which bending and retaining I perform by the machinery
shewn by the Drawing annexed, which is hereafter described. And I
prefer to clothe the ends of the felloes with sheet iron, as shewn in the
Drawing. I make no claim to particular forms or constructions of
wheels, as the form or construction of wheels made when using felloes
prepared according to my Invention may be varied; I have, however, in
the Drawing annexed, shown the form of wheel which I recommend.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, shows a side view, and Figure 2, a plan of a press for
bending wood prepared according to my Invention into a form suitable
for the felloes of wheels; the wood is placed in the position shewn by
the dotted lines a, a, in Figure 2, upon the table 6, of the press, and
is pressed into the fixed curved mould 6', by the sliding mould c. which

page_text: is moved forward by the screws d. Figure 3, shows a front view, and
Figure 4, an edge view of a wheel constructed of my improved felloe,
pieces of sheet iron e, being introduced and folded over (as shewn by
the Drawing) where the ends of the pieces of wood composing the
felloes meet. f, is the nave of the wheel, which is composed of two
parts ff, as shewn separately at Figure 5, the spokes being fitted
into the part f*, and retained therein by the part f', which may (in case
of the expansion of the tyre) be temporarily removed to admit of the
introduction of wedges under the spokes, so as to force them outwards,
and by that means render all the parts of the wheel firm.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it
understood that what I claim is, the manufacture of bended felloes for
wheels by subjecting the wood to be bent to heat and oil or fatty
matters, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Baron Henry de Bode, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four.
Witness,
GENERAL BARON HENRY DE BODE. (L.S.)
JNO. COOK,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.