IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- PAGOUDE OF WHEELS AND IN SECURING TYRES ON OR TO WHEELS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Stableford, of Oldbury, in the County of
Worcester, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PAGOUDE OF WHEELS AND IN SECURING TYRES ON OR TO WHEELS."
Sealed the 18th March 1862, and dated the 21st September 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Stableford at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st September 1861.
I, WILLIAM STABLEFORD, of Oldbury, in the County of Worcester, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF WHEELS, AND IN SECURING TYRES ON OR TO WHEELS," to be
as follows:-
My Invention is intended to apply chiefly to railway wheels, but may be
applied for common road purposes. To the nave I fix a metal disc or series
of segments or spokes, and bend down the outer edge to form a hook, either
all round the disc or segments, or at intervals only. I form the tyres with an
inner web, and form that all round or at intervals only into a hook. The
hooks on the tyres and on the discs, segments, or spokes correspond, or are
counterparts each of the other, and when put together interlock and form a
tight connection on each side of the hooked disc, segments, or spokes, and
with the grain placed radially. I fix wood, which bears against shoulders on
the tyre, at one end and against the nave at the other, or instead of bearing

page_text: directly against the nave the wood is received in sockets fixed or free to move
on the nave. I then bolt, rivet, or otherwise fasten the metal core and the
two wooden surfaces together. In order to effect the bolting, I prefer to apply
on both sides of the wheel a skeleton frame carrying two rings, through which
bolts are passed and fastened by nuts. Instead of applying wood on each side
of the core, metal discs, segments, or spokes may be used.
In constructing wheels according to my Invention, I prefer that the wood
or metal on each side of the core should be placed at an angle between the
tyre and the nave, in order to allow of tightening the tyre if it should wear
loose, or otherwise require tightening by causing the wooden or outer metal
surfaces to approach more or less a straight line, that is, bringing them nearer
together at the ends where they rest on the nave or in the sockets upon
the nave.
I have named one metal core and the securing of the tyre thereto by means
of a book formed, as before explained, on each, as being the most simple
means of carrying my Invention into effect; but two cores may be used, each
with a book or fastening made to interlock with two hooks or fastenings formed
on the inner side of the tyre, and, in fact, many modifications may be made
without departing from the main features of my Invention, which consist in
securing the tyres of wheels to the naves through hooked or other suitable
connections; in the employment of wooden or metal spokes, segments, or discs
bearing against the inner face of the tyre, and the nave or a socket or sockets
upon the nave; and in the means of tightening up the tyre without removing
it, essentially, as herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Stableford in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STABLEFORD, of Oldbury, in the County of Worcester, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Stableford, Her special licence that I, the said William
Stableford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as

page_text: I, the said William Stableford, 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, AND IN SECURING TYRES
ON OR TO WHEELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Stableford, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Stableford, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention is intended to apply chiefly to railway wheels, but may be
applied for common road purposes. To the nave I fix a metal disc or series
of segments or spokes, and bend down the outer edge to form a hook, either
all round the discs or segments, or at intervals only. I form the tyres with an
inner web, and form that all round or at intervals only into a hook. The
hooks on the tyres and on the discs, segments, or spokes correspond or are
counterparts each of the other, and when put together interlock and form a
tight connection on each side of the hooked disc, segments, or spokes, and, by
preference, with the grain placed radially I fix wood, which bears against
shoulders on the tyre at one end and against the nave at the other. Or,
instead of bearing directly against the nave, the wood is received in sockets
free to move on the nave. I then bolt, rivet, or otherwise fasten the metal
core and the two wooden surfaces together. In order to effect the bolting I
prefer to apply on both sides of the wheel a skeleton frame carrying two rings,
through which bolts are passed and fastened by nuts. Instead of applying
wood on each side of the core, metal discs, segments, or spokes may be used.
In constructing wheels according to my Invention, I prefer that the wood
or metal on each side of the core should be placed at an angle between the
tyre and the nave, in order to allow of tightening the tyre if it should wear
loose or otherwise require tightening, by causing the wooden or outer metal
surfaces to approach more or less a straight line, that is, bringing them nearer

page_text: together at the ends where they rest on the nave, or in the sockets upon
the nave.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation, partly in
section, and Figure 2 is a vertical section of a wheel, constructed according
a is the axle ;
to my Invention, shewing the spokes cast into a cast-iron nave.
b is the cast-iron nave; c, c, are the segments or spokes bent, as shewn by the
dotted lines d, d, and round which the metal for forming the nave a is run;
e, e, are the hooks at the ends of the spokes; and f is the tyre, formed with
an inner web g, which hooks on to the spokes, as shown; h, h, are the seg-
ments of wood laid radially, and at an angle between the nave b and axle a
on both sides of the spokes c, c; i, i, are bolts passing through skeleton
frames k, k, on both sides of the wheels for securing the wood and for tight-
ening up the tyre, as before described.
Figure 3 is a vertical section of a wheel, in which the nave 6 is made of
wrought iron, having the spokes c, c, welded to it. In other respects the wheel
is similar to that just described.
Figure 4 is a vertical section of a wheel with wrought-iron nave and spokes,
in which the wood segments h, h, do not bear directly on the nave, but are
received in metal sockets 1, 1, free to slide on the nave b. The wheel is tight-
ened by bolts i, i, as before.
Figure 5 is a vertical section of a wheel, showing the nave extended to
about midway between the axle and the tyre, and terminating in a hook a;
b is a ring, with the edges turned up to form hooks, which hook on to the
hook a and tyre c; d, d, are the wood segments laid at an angle, as before,
and tightened up by bolts e, e, passing through the wood d, d, ring b, and
secured on each side by skeleton frames and bolts. Figure 6 is a vertical
section of a wheel of similar construction to that just described, except that
two rings b, b, are employed instead of one.
Figure 7 is a vertical section of a wheel, made wholly of wrought iron with
two cores or sets of spokes. The nave 6 has hooks n, n, turned or formed in
it to receive corresponding hooks o, o, on the spokes c, c, which are also hooked
at their outer ends, as shown at p, p, and enter recesses made for their recep-
tion in the tyre f. The hooks o, o, are kept in the recesses, and the wheel is
tightened by means of the skeleton frames k, k, and bolts i, i. Figure 8 is a
vertical section of a nave, to be secured in a similar manner by the spokes
to the tyre; the nave is made of cast iron with a wrought-iron hoop
secured to it.
Figure 9 is a vertical section, showing another mode by which tyres may be
hooked to spokes, and through them secured to the nave; r, r, are hooked

page_text: and conical rings, extending round the wheel, the hooks of which take into
recesses s, &, and t, t, formed in the tyre f and spokes c, c; bolts v secured by
nuts pass through the rings r, r, and flanges u, u, and serve to tighten up the
tyre. It matters not what position the hooks or ribs occupy on the tyre; as
examples, Figure 10 is a section of a tyre, with the hook or rib on the inside
edge thereof; and Figure 11 is a similar view, with the hook or rib on the
outside edge.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
the precise details herein-before given, as many modifications may be made
without departing from the main features of my Invention; but I claim as my
improvements in the manufacture of wheels, and in securing tyres on or
to wheels,-
First, securing the tyres of wheels to the naves through hooked connections,
substantially in manner herein-before described.
Second, the employment in the manufacture of wheels in combination with
such hooked connections of wooden or metal spokes, segments, or discs bearing
against the inner face of the tyre, and the nave or sockets upon the nave,
together with the means of tightening up the tyre without removing it, all as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Stableford, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.