A CERTAIN IMPROVE- NENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Eleventh day of January, in the twelfth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
mc, the said William Edward Newton, Her especial license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said William Edward Newton, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all
Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, an Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVE-
NENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS," being a communi-
cation from a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Edward Newton, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Edward Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings thereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention of improvements in the construction of wheels relates to a
new or improved method of constructing railroad wheels applicable to locomo
tive engines, tenders, and the truck wheels of railroad cars, and for other
purposes, and consists in constructing the wheel of three principal pieces,
namely, the nave, the central part, which consists of plates of iron of a dished
shape, and of the rim; these three parts are connected and secured together
in a peculiar manner, so as to form a strong and at the same time cheap
wheel.
Fig. 1 in the accompanying Drawing is a side elevation of the improved
wheel. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same, taken in the line x, x, in
Fig. 1, in which the mode of holding the several parts together by several
small screw bolts near the axle is distinctly shewn. Fig. 3 is a cross
section by the same line, showing another mode of holding and forcing the
central plates together, so as to tighten contact with the rim. In this case
the object is effected by a collar and screw upon tho axle, and a different modo
of attaching the plates to the rim by small bolts or rivets near the rim.
Fig. 4 is a cross sectional (full size) view of the attachment of the side plates
to the rim by the dovetail mode, and Figures 5 and 6 a side and edge view
of a cast-iron piece to thicken and support the eye of the plates when made of
sheet metal. The principal parts of which the wheel is composed are three
separate pieces of metal, consisting of a rim piece and two circular side plates,
which plates are made with plain surfaces or corrugated in concentric or
radiating lines, and whether plain or corrugated have a convexity outward, so
that they may be forced against the rim which will embrace their exterior
edges or peripheries. The best mode of attaching these side plates to the
rim is to turn a groove, commencing at the inner side and edge of the rim,
cutting the same outwards towards its largest circumference in depth, the
thickness of the plate forming a seat for the same to rest upon, and terminat-
ing the groove in its outward direction with the largest diameter of cut inside
and the lesser outside in the form of a dovetail. The edges of the plates are
then turned and fitted to correspond, excepting that the diameter of the plates

page_text: is greater by about three sixteenths of an inch than the groove that has been
turned in the rim. The rim is then sufficiently expanded by heat to admit of
the greater diameter of the plates to pass into the groove prepared for them in
the rim, and by cooling the same it will be made to shrink itself upon the
edges of the plates, and the latter by entering the dovetailed grooves causes
the several parts to become fastened together. The side plates are then
further secured in their places by screw bolts near the axle, which bolts are
intended to compress and draw together the convex parts of the plates at or
near their centres, by which their peripheries are forced to expand and stretch
into close contact and form a tight joint with the rim. By means also of
these bolts or screws the plates may be tightened upon the rim at any
subsequent period, when, from use or wear, their contact becomes impaired or
they become loose in the groove. I do not, however, intend to confine myself
exclusively to the dovetail mode of attaching the plates to the rin, and have
given illustrations in the Drawings of other means to effect that object, which
will be hereafter more particularly described; nor do I intend to confine
myself to the mode of tightening the plates in contact with the rim by screw
bolts passed through the former near the axle, and I have given an example
in the Drawings of another mode of effecting this object by means of a collar
and screw nut upon the axle itself, which will also be hereafter more fully set
forth; these illustrations and examples are given to show that a slight chango
in form and detail as to some of its minor parts may be introduced into this
wheel without changing its general character and effects. I prefer to construct
this wheel of wrought iron, save and excepting the cast-iron pieces represented
at Figures 5 and 6, but I do not intend to confine myself exclusively to that
kind of material. The rim may be of cast iron (in which case its thickness
should be considerably increased), either with or without a chilled running
surface, or may be made of wrought iron plated with steel, or made wholly of
steel or of any other composition of metal, and the side plates may be of cast
iron or other metal or composition of metal. The letters marked upon the
Drawings indicate the same parts in all the Figures, and the dimensions are
given by a scale of inches and feet, as marked in the Drawing. A is the rim
piece; B, the side plates; C, the axle; D, cast-iron pieces to support the
plate at the eye when the same is made of sheet iron, which piece is firmly
rivetted to the plate. To make a wheel wholly of wrought iron, the rim A is
rolled into proper-shaped bars in any convenient manner in common use, and
is made five inches wide by one inch thick, with a flange raised one inch and
one eighth higher than the bar at one side; it is then bent into a circle and
welded, and is then heated and placed upon a suitable mandril and made

page_text: perfectly round; after which it is chucked in a lathe, and the male part of
the dovetail groove, as seen at a, a, Fig. 4, is formed at each inner side and
corner. The side plates B are made from plate or sheet iron of five sixteenths
of an inch thick, a little more or less. They are first cut into a circle, after-
wards swedged and made convex with a suitable press and swedging dies;
or the press and dies may be constructed in such a manner as to cut the circlo
outside the eye at the centre and raise the convexity at the same operation.
I do not confine myself to any precise mode. The plate is then chucked in a
Jathe, and the edge turned tapering and outwardly towards the convex sido
to form the female part of the ultimate dovetail joint when the plates and
rim are put together. The largest diameter of the tapering edge of the plate
is made one eighth to three sixteenths of an inch larger than the smallest
inside circumference of the groove. The cast piece (Figs. 5 and 6) is then
drilled and tap screwed and well rivetted upon the concave side of the plato
when the principal parts of the wheel are ready for putting together. The
rim is then heated and allowed to shrink itself upon the edges of the plates,
and by which it is dovetailed into the grooves formed in the rim with the
convex sides of the plates outward; four tap bolts c, c, made of five-eighth
round iron are screwed into and hold the centre of the plates together, and servo
to compress the convexity of the plates, expanding their peripheries in such a
manner as to tighten up contact at their edges upon the rim, if from any cause
they shall at any time afterwards get loose. The above is the best mode; these
side plates B may, however, be joined to the rim by turning their edges square
and sinking a recess the depth of the thickness of the plate at the inner side
and edge of the rim, to fit and correspond with the edges of the plates, when,
without expanding the rim, the plates are placed therein, and secured by screw
bolts or rivets, as shown at b, b. The centres of these side plates may be held
and forced inwards towards cach other by means of a collar e and screw nuts
d, d, on the axle, and is applicable to either mode of joining the plates to
the rim.
Having now fully described the Invention which has been communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, and for which I have obtained Her
Majesty's Letters Patent as aforesaid, and the best means with which I am
acquainted for carrying the same into effect, I would observe, that what I
claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, the forming of a
wheel of three principal parts, a rim piece A and nave with two side plates
B, B, made with plain or corrugated surfaces, and formed more or less
convex outwardly, the whole constructed, put together, fastened, and having
tightening screws, substantially as described; and this I claim whether these

page_text: principal parts are put together by means of dovetailing the side plates into
the rim piece, as shewn at a, a, a, &c. (Figures 2 and 4), or the same is
attached by means of screw bolts or rivets passing through the plates near the
rim, as shewn at b, b (Fig. 3), and whether the plates are tightened upon the
rim by means of screw bolts placed near the axle, as shown at c, c, c (Figures 2
and 6), or having a screw nut and collar upon the axle, as shown at d, d,
ande (Fig. 3), or whether by any other analogous means by which the
outward convexity of the plates may be forced inwards or towards each other
at or near their centres, thereby causing their peripheries to expand, stretch,
and enlarge into full contact with the rim.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year of our
W. E. (L.S.) NEWTON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eleventh day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid William Edward Newton came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.