IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE AXLES AND BEARINGS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morgan, of Rotherhithe, in the County
of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CARRIAGE AXLES AND BEARINGS."
Sealed the 18th October 1870, and dated 27th May 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morgan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th May 1870.
I, WILLIAM MORGAN, of Rotherhithe, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CARRIAGE AXLES AND BEARINGS," to be as follows:-
―:
This Invention relates to so manufacturing axles and bearings as
to greatly diminish the friction which they are ordinarily necessarily
subjected to, and consists in forming the axle either with indentations in
its surface or with additions thereto, so that in place of the whole of the
under surface of the axle coming into contact with the bearings at each

page_text: revolution of the wheel, as is now the case, only a portion thereof will
be in such contact; the same object is also effected in the axles of
railway carriages by making the bearings or brasses in place of being
a portion of a ring with indentations or parts cut out, so that the effect
produced will be the same as in the case of the axles above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Morgan in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MORGAN, of Rotherhithe, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Morgan, Her special license
that I, the said William Morgan, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Morgan, my executors,
administrators, or 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
CARRIAGE AXLES AND BEARINGS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Morgan, my executors or administrators, 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 William Morgan, do hereby
declare 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, reference being had to the accompanying

page_text: say :-
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This Invention has for its object the so manufacturing axles and
bearings as to greatly diminish the friction which they are ordinarily
necessarily subjected to, and consists in forming the axle either with
indentations in its surface or with additions thereto, so that in place
of the whole of the under surface of the axle coming into contact with
the bearings at each revolution of the wheel, as is now the case, only a
portion thereof will be in such contact; the same object is also effected
in the axles of railway carriages by making the bearings or brasses
with indentations or parts cut out in place of being a portion of a ring,
so, that the effect produced will be the same as in the case of the axles
above described.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a transverse vertical section of a
forged axle and axle box suitable for a common road vehicle as arranged
in accordance with my said Invention.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the former shewing the
axle itself in elevation.
Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section of a railway axle and bearing,
the latter being constructed on my improved system.
And Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the principles upon which my
improvements are based.
According to one mode of carrying out my said Invention with a.
view to constructing an axle so as to lessen the amount of friction and
thus assist the propelling power applied to carriages and vehicles of all
kinds moving on wheels revolving on fixed axles I proceed as follows:
-I prepare an axle or axletree A (Figures 1 and 2) of iron or steel, or of
the two metals combined, of which the journal or part intended to work
within the axle box B shall be perfectly round; upon this I form three
convex sides or plates a, b, and c, separated from each other, and
extending nearly or entirely the length of the journal. The sides or

page_text: plates are formed by sinking the metal lying between and beyond the
parts needed for their formation as shewn at d, e, f, and g. The depth
of the sinking will give the thickness of the said sides or plates, and
it must therefore be regulated by the thickness demanded. The whole
of the friction is to be borne by these sides or plates alone.
The following is the manner in which I propose to arrange or dispose
the sides or plates, and the dimensions will refer to a finished axle of
two inches diameter, one of the sides or plates a is to be situate at the
bottom or under part of the axle, and as it will sustain constant friction
from the weight of the carriage and load I propose to make it about an
inch and a half in width and a quarter of an inch in thickness. Another
side or plate b, about an inch wide and a quarter of an inch thick, is to
be placed in the front of the axle and caused to extend rather more
above than below a horizontal line 1-2, drawn through the middle of
the axle. A similar side or plate e must be situate in a similar position
at the back of the axle to render backing more easy. All the three
sides or plates are to be bevilled towards the edges, and the three in
any one axle must be at an equal distance from a common centre. As
the whole of the metal on each side of the bottom plate a is sunk, as
shewn, the friction arising from the propelling power will necessarily
fall on the plate c or b, as the case may be, according to the direc-
tion of draft, but will be more above than below the horizontal
line 1-2. Lastly, the crown h of the axle is to be very slightly bevilled
and just clear of the top of the axle box B to allow the front and back
sides or plates b and c to come in contact with the axle box. The
axle, as above described, must be fitted closely or ground into the axle
box.
Any of the many modes of securing the wheel in its place, and of those
for retaining the oil in the box, may be adopted, the same not interfering
with the working of the axle above described.
In some cases the projecting sides or plates may be produced on the
axle by means of convex plates of iron or steel welded or otherwise
affixed to a solid axle (or bar), and in exact agreement with the
arrangement of the sides or plates already described:
In applying my Invention to railway axles and bearings which differ
from those of common road vehicles, inasmuch as the axle is rotatory
and the bearing or box stationary, I form concave sides or plates on the

page_text: bearing or brass, leaving the axle journal unaltered. This is illustrated
at Figure 3, where A is the axle journal and B the bearing or brass,
the latter having concave sides, plates, or projections a¹, b¹, and c¹,
formed thereon, either by adding sides or plates thereto, or by sinking
or cutting away the metal in two parts, as at d¹ and e¹, such sunk
portions extending from end to end of the bearing longitudinally. The
projecting part a¹ on the crown of the bearing receives the greatest
wear, and is therefore, by preference, of greater width or area than the
two side projections ¹ and c¹. These latter sustain the friction produced
by the draft or propelling power in the direction of the horizontal line
of traction 1-2 passing through the centre of the axle, and should be
angled at their upper and lower edges, as shewn at f¹, f', (Figures 3
and 4) in order that as they wear away they shall always present the
same amount of bearing surface. The dotted circles in Figure 4
represent the lines of wear due to the vertical pressure of the load
combined with the latteral pressure produced by the force of traction
in either direction.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the peculiar
construction of carriage axles and bearings for the purpose of reducing
friction, as herein-before described and illustrated by the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal. the Twenty-first dav