IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY WHEELS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Ludbrook, of Mile End, in the County of
Middlesex, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILWAY
WHEELS."
Sealed the 12th February 1856, and dated the 27th August 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Ludbrook at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
August 1855.
I, SAMUEL LUDBROOK, of Mile End, in the County of Middlesex, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN RAILWAY WHEELS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in forming the periphery or outside edge of railway
wheels of wood, forced and pressed into and between suitable holding plates
and chambers in such manner as to form a very hard and compact surface,
with the grain of the wood so placed as to be at right angles, or as nearly
so as may be, to the surface of the rail at the point where the edge of the
wheel comes in contact therewith.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Ludbrook in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th February 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
LUDBROOK, of Mile End, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Ludbrook, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Ludbrook,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel
Ludbrook, 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
RAILWAY WHEELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Ludbrook, 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
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 Samuel Ludbrook, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say-
My Invention consists in forming the periphery or outside edge of railway
wheels of wood, forced and pressed into and between suitable holding plates and
chambers in such manner as to form a very hard and compact surface, with
the grain of the wood so placed as to be at right angles, or as nearly so as
may be, to the surface of the rail at the point where the edge of the wheel
comes in contact therewith.
Figure 1 is an elevation of one side of a wheel constructed according to
my improvements; Figure 2 is an elevation of the reverse side of the wheel

page_text: with the side plate removed; Figure 3 is a section, through the line c, d, of
Figure 2; and Figure 4, an edge view. A is a boss or nave, cast with radial
arins B, B; C, C, are filling pieces of hard wood, such as teak, beech, or elm,
forced in between the arms B, B; D and E are side plates of metal, one of
larger diameter than the other, to form the flange. After the wood C, C, has
been forced between the radial arms, these plates are fitted over the ends of
the boss A, and held together by screwed bolts and nuts a, a, b, b, when wedges
F, F, of hard wood, cut so that the grain may come at right angles or nearly
so with the rail when placed thereon, are driven by hydraulic pressure, by a
steam hammer, or by other powerful means, into the wooden filling pieces C, C ;
the wheel is then removed to a lathe, and the wedges are turned down to
a smooth and even surface. Instead of the side plates D and E being solid,
parts of them may be removed, as shewn by the dotted lines, Figure 1.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the constructing of the running surface or edge of railway wheels of
wood, made compact and hard by means of wooden wedges driven in or
between arms or filling pieces.
Second, the general construction of the wheel, herein-before described, and
represented in the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Ludbrook, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
S. LUDBROOK. (L.S.)