Improvements in and Connected with the Manufacture or Construction of Wheels for Railway Vehicles.
Year: 1887

page_text: Improvements in and Connected with the Manufacture or Construction
of Wheels for Railway Vehicles.
I JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this Invention which has been communicated
to me from abroad by William Sellers of the City and County of Philadelphia in
the State of Pennsylvania in the United States of America Engineer 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 that class of railway wheels in which the central or hub
portion is provided with a rim to which it is connected by arms or by a plate or plates
and upon which rim a steel tyre is shrunk and otherwise secured, the periphery of this
tyre forming the rolling surface of the wheel and this invention has more particular
reference to the means by which this tyre is secured to the rim and to the mode of
making and securing the retaining device. In such railway wheels as they have
hitherto been long in use the tyre has been secured to the rim in a great variety of
ways but perhaps the most approved way is by means of what are known as retaining
rings or mansell rings, which consist of a pair of rings each having an annular
projection at right angles to the plane of the ring, which projection fits into a groove
in the side of the tyre, while the rings are bolted on each side of the rim by through
bolts passing through the rim or between the rim and the hub, the object being to
retain the tyre in contact with the rim, if from any cause the tyre should be broken
while in service. The forms of these rings have been greatly varied for example
two projections have been proposed one to engage the tyre and the other the rim but

page_text: in all cases the surfaces of the rings and the rim have been held securely in contact by
the through bolts before mentioned and as thus constructed they effect the object for
which they were designed.
While it is entirely practicable to make the fit of the tyre upon the rim so close,
that no force to which its service subjects it, will cause the tyre to rotate upon the rim,
yet the limit is so small between too tight and too loose a fit that it not unfrequently
happens that the tyre is too loose and in this case the rings as heretofore constructed
will simply maintain the tyre and rim in their relative positions but will have no
influence to prevent the tyre from rotating upon the rim, moreover the flat surfaces of
the rings and those of the rim being bolted firmly together and in contact by the
through bolts before mentioned, have no more elasticity than a solid mass of iron of
equal thickness, so that the bolts are liable to be broken by the jars and shocks to which
the wheel is subjected in service.
One object of this Invention is to provide retaining rings which will not only
retain the tyre in contact with the rim in case the tyre is fractured but which will
also prevent the tyre from rotating upon the rim in case the fit is too loose, it is a
further object to provide retaining rings which shall have a certain amount of
elasticity under the strain of the through bolts before mentioned whereby the effect of
the jars and shocks to which they are subjected will be relieved, and it is a further
object to adopt such a process of manufacture for these retaining rings as will insure
uniformity of size and shape while it affords a test as to quality and to these ends this
invention consists, in providing a retaining ring with an annular projection at right
angles to the plane of the ring at both the interior and exterior boundary of the
ring and in forming corresponding grooves in the side of the rim and in that of
the tyre, of such depth, that the annular projections of the rings will rest upon the
bottom of the grooves and not permit the flat surfaces of the riin and tyre and the
rings to come into contact, but leave a space between them for the purpose of giving
elasticity as hereinafter described the retaining rings are secured upon the rim and the
tyre by bolts passing midway between the annular projections upon the rings, so that
the strain upon the bolts will be equally distributed upon the rim and the tyre
and prevent the tyre from rotating upon the rim while the unsupported flat surfaces
of the rings will afford the desired elasticity for the bolts. The Invention further
consists in making the said retaining rings by rolling a bar of iron or low steel
to the form of cross section described for the ring, bending this bar to a circular
form of less diameter than the furnished size and scarfing the ends, then heating these
scarfed ends to a welding heat, then placing them in a die formed of a section of a
cylinder the size of the ring and provided with grooves in the bottom corresponding
to the annular projections on the ring, then welding the ring by pressure in such die
and finally, after the ring is cold, stretching it so as to give it a permanent set
at such size as will fit the grooves in the rim and the tyre which it is intended
to secure.
In order that the invention may be more fully understood I will now refer to the
drawings, in which Figure 1 represents in plan Figure 2 in cross section and Figure 3
in enlarged section of part of Figure 2 a steel tyred railway wheel with two retaining
rings the retaining ring shewn in Figure 1 being broken away at one of the bolts, to
show more clearly the mode of attachment. Figure 4 represents a section of a railway
wheel, in which the tyre is retained by one retaining ring; and Figure 5 is a similar
section showing the retaining ring upon the opposite side of the tyre, In Figure 4
the bolts which hold the retaining ring do not pass across the whole face of the rim,
while in Figure 5 they are shown as passing across the rim with their heads sunk into
the side of the rim. A is the central or hub portion, which in this instance, is
connected to the rim B by arms of oval section. C is the steel tyre, D D are the
retaining rings, and E are through bolts which compress the retaining rings so that
the annular projections on the said rings bear on the bottoms of the grooves in the
rim and the tyre. The annular projections upon the retaining rings are more clearly
shown in Figure 3. This Figure also shews at d the space or clearance between the

page_text: flat surfaces of the retaining rings and the rim and tyre. To save labour when the
centre or bub portion is of cast iron or of cast steel the rim is cast with notches opposite
each arm, through which the bolts pass across the rim, as shown in Figure 1, where
the retaining ring is broken away, and as thus arranged it will be evident that as the
nuts are screwed on to the bolts and the retaining rings are compressed, the pressure
upon the retaining rings must be equally distributed or very nearly so, upon the
tyre and the rim, and that the tyre cannot rotate upon the rim without sliding under
this pressure, which must create a friction upon the tyre greater than could be
produced by sliding the tyre upon the rail under any load to which it is subjected and
that consequently the tyre can nover rotate upon the rim. As the retaining rings are
unsupported between the annular projections, tho flat surfaces between these projections
become springs, which will be more or less stiff as the thickness of the retaining rings
is increased or diminished, whereby a degree of elasticity may bo secured which will
not only relievo the bolts from sudden strains but greatly diminish the liability of the
nuts to jar loose and unscrew. Figures 4 and 5 show modes of securing the tyre to
the rim with but one retaining ring, in this case the bolts may pass through the rim
having their heads sunk in the rin if preferred, as in Figure 5, or they may have
Theads as in Figure 4 fitting into corresponding notches in the rim, in either case
the strain of the bolts must be taken upon the annular projections on the retaining
ring so as to distribute this strain upon both the rim and the tyre and so as to afford
an elastic support for the bolts as hereinbefore described.
The retaining rings may be either of iron or of low steel but in either case they must
be of a quality to weld with certainty and facility, they are rolled so as to be in cross
section such as is shown and described and should be bent to a circle as they come
from the rolls, this circle should be smaller than the size of the finished ring,
sufficiently so to afford opportunity for stretching it to the exact size required after it
has been welded. The ends are then scarfed in such manner as to avoid injuring the
annular projections, then heated to a welding heat and welded in a die under
pressure. This die is formed of a section of a cylinder the diameter of the ring when
ready for welding and the bottom of the die is provided with circular grooves to
conform to the annular projections on the ring while the sides are circular as above
described, the ram which imparts the pressure, is a portion of a cylinder conforming
to the sides of the die, and the end of this cylinder operating upon the heated metal is
a plane surface at right angles to the axis of its cylindrical sides and of a length to
cover a portion of the cold part of the retaining ring which will thus form a stop to
regulate the thickness of the weld. After the rings are welded, if of steel, they
should be annealed, and whether of iron or of steel, when cold, they must be stretched
to the proper diameter, preferably by forcing them over a conical mandril, care being
observed to impart the necessary pressure in a plane parallel to that of the ring and at
right angles to the axis of the cone, whereby the ring will be straightened as well as
enlarged to the proper dimensions and the quality of the weld will be demonstrated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is.
First. As an improvement in railway wheels a retaining ring provided with an
annular projection at right angles to the plane of the ring at both the interior and
exterior boundary of the ring, substantially as described, in combination with a rim
and a tyre provided respectively with grooves in their sides, of such depth that the
annular projections on the rings will rest upon the bottom of the grooves and not
allow the flat surfaces of the rim and tyre and the ring to come into contact,
substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and illustrated by the
accompanying drawings.
Second. As an improvement in railway wheels, a retaining ring, provided with
annular projections, a rim and a tyre provided respectively with grooves to receive
such annular projections in the manner set forth in the preceding claiming clause and
bolts which pass through the ring midway between the annular projections, substantially
as and for the purposes herein before described.

page_text: Third. The manufacture of the retaining rings for railway wheels consisting in
rolling a bar of iron or of low steel to the forin of cross section described, then bending
this bar to a circular form of less diameter than the finished size of ring required and
scarfing the ends, then heating these scarfed ends to a welding heat, then welding
them by pressing them into a die conformable to the diameter and cross section of the
ring and finally when cold, stretching the ring so as to give it a permanent set at
such size as will fit the grooves in the rim and the tyre which it is intended to retain
in their relative positions to each other as hereinbefore described.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
Agents.