CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS AND TYRES OF WHEELS TO BE EMPLOYED UPON RAILWAYS
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BANKS, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, 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 Thirtieth day of June, in the fifth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas
Banks, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said Thomas Banks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said Thomas Banks, my executors, administrators, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
WHEELS AND TYRES OF WHEELS TO BE EMPLOYED UPON RAILWAYS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, requiring me, the said Thomas Banks,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in.
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing, and:
to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Banks, 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, and the Drawings therein
referred to, and to these Presents annexed..

page_text: My improvements in the construction of wheels to be employed upon rail-
ways consists in a peculiar method of constructing the nave or boss of such
wheels, for the purpose of securely fastening the wrought-iron arms or spokes
in the nave and preventing their becoming loose. This part of my Invention
is exhibited in the Drawings attached to these Presents at Fig. 1, which is a
section, taken vertically through the nave of a railway wheel, constructed
according to my said improvement. The wrought-iron arms or spokes are
shewn at a, a, a, a, which may be formed according to any of the well-known
plans already in use. These spokes or arms are then to be welded, rivetted, or
otherwise securely attached to a wrought-iron ring b, b, b, b, and then the boss
or nave c, c, c, c, is formed by casting or running melted metal entirely around
the ring b, so as to embrace and enclose the inner ends of the spokes a, a, a,
and the ring b, b, b, as shewn in the Figure. The securing the wrought-iron
arms to a ring of wrought iron previous to casting the metal around the ends of
such arms to forin the nave or boss of railway wheels, will be found to increase
the security of the arms in the nave or boss, and to add greatly to the strength
and durability of such wheels.
Having now described the nature of this part of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
claim the exclusive use of the method of forming the nave, by running the
melted metal about the ends of the spokes, except when the ends of such
spokes are attached to a wrought-iron ring, as above described.
My improvement in the tyres of wheels, to be employed upon railways, con-
sists in placing or inserting a hoop, bar, or segments of steel, iron, or hard
metal in a groove, turned or otherwise formed entirely around the outer rim or
periphery of a railway wheel, such groove being properly shaped to receive the
steel or other hard metal.
The Drawing attached to these Presents exhibits this improvement in the
tyres of wheels to be employed on railways. Fig. 2 represents a section, taken
transversely through a railway wheel, drawn to a scale of about one-fourth of
the real size for a wheel of three feet diameter. d, d, d, d, represents the
rim or periphery, arms and nave. The improvement consists in forming a
groove b, b, (either dovetailed, as shewn in the Figure, or otherwise shaped,
entirely around the outer rim or periphery, whatever the materials of the
wheel,) and in placing or inserting therein a hoop, bar, or segments of steel,
iron, or hard metal, either in one entire piece around the circumference of the
wheel, or in smaller pieces or segments, placed together end to end, so as to
fill the groove formed round the periphery of the wheel. Fig. 3 represents, in
section a portion of the felloe or rim and tyre of a railway wheel, drawn about
:

page_text: the full size; and Fig. 4 is a similar section, excepting that in the latter the
steel bar, hoop, or segment.c is: represented as about to be placed in the
groove b, b,which groove is shewn as it is cut or formed' in the.felloe or rim
previously to the steel being inserted; the bar, hoop; or segments of steel, or
other hard metal being heated, are introduced into the groove, and spread
laterally, so as to fill or become tight in the groove, by hammering or other
pressure, as represented in Fig. 3. Steel, or other hard metal, as above
described, may be applied to the working surface of the flange of the tyre; a
separate groove may be made in the flange, or the groove shewn in the Draw-
ing may be extended further towards the flanged side of the wheel, so as to
steel that part of the flange on which the working against the edge of the
rails principally takes place.
In applying my improvements to the tyres of wheels, whether new or old,
and made according to the usual method, it will be necessary to form the
groove to the requisite size and shape; or if a groove be left when the tyre is
formed, it may be enlarged, according to the wishes of the manufacturer, to
receive the steel; and I would further observe that the above-mentioned hoop,
bar, or segments of hard metal may be easily removed when worn, and re-
newed from time to time as long as the general fabric of the wheel is
sufficiently firm for use.
Having now described the other part of my said Invention, that is, my improve-
ment in the tyres of railway wheels, I wish it to be understood that I am aware of
steel having been used before the date of my said Letters Patent for the tyres
of wheels to be employed on common roads and railways by other persons, and
under Letters Patent granted to Daniel Gooch, bearing date on or about the
28th day of May, One thousand eight hundred and forty for the use of steel
in wheels for carriages and locomotive engines to be used on railways, by
forging or welding together bars of iron and steel; and I hereby declare that
I do not claim the use of steel generally on tyres for railway wheels, or the
use of steel on such tyres when the iron and steel are welded together in the
formation of the tyre bar; but I claim, as my Invention, the improvement in
the tyres of wheels to be employed on railways, by inserting a hoop, bar, or
segments of steel or other hard metal in a groove turned or formed entirely
round the rim or tyre of such wheels, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Banks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
THOMAS (L.S.) BANKS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Thirteenth day of
December, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Thomas Banks came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Thirteenth day of December, in the year above written.