IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELS
Year: 1854

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the Offico
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th August
1854. A communication.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
RAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELS," communicated to me from Hippolite Ulysse
Petin and Jean Marie Gaudet, of Rive de Gier, in the Empire of France,
Manufacturers, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of wheels for railway and other
purposes of malleable iron, the wheels being operated upon in a heated state,
by means of compressing and combined rolling and drawing apparatus. In
making wheels according to this system, a helical coil of malleable iron of a
flat section is taken, and after being raised to a welding heat, this coil is
placed below a steam hammer, of which the acting or hammer face is formed
into a species of dic, whilst the anvil beneath is shaped to correspond to the
side contour of a wheel blank. The annular hollow in the upper surface of
the wheel blank is formed by a ring of steel or wrought iron placed upon the
wheel blank, which is passed upon a central mandril fitting in a socket in the
anvil. The hammer is made to act upon the coil of hot iron until it is formed
by the die surfaces into a rough wheel blank, which is finished by a subsequent

page_text: process. The wheel blank thus made is less in diameter than the finished
wheel, and the blank is caused to expand and take the finished form by means
of a pair of rolls actuated by suitable gearing. The two rolls are carried by
a strong framing, and have their centres in a vertical line. The lowest roll is
horizontal, but the upper one is inclined on first acting upon the wheel blank,
being gradually brought to a horizontal position as the wheel approaches com-
pletion. The wheel blank is acted upon by the ends of the rolls, which are
made of a suitable section for the purpose; and during the operation the rolls
are made to recede from the centre of the wheel blank, so as to cause it to
expand, or so as to follow its expansion, as caused by their compressing action
upon it.
The wheel blank is placed upon a vertical mandril, and if its support is
stationary, the rolls are made to move towards or away from its centre, by
means of a screw, acting on a double fork, which embraces the roll spindles
between collars formed upon them for the purpose; or instead of this, the
support of the wheel blank may be made to approach to or recede from the
rolls by similar means.
The upper roll is carried in bearings, which are raised or lowered by means
of vertical screws. These screws, as well as that for producing the horizontal
movement of the rolls, or of the wheel support, are worked by suitable gearing
from a steam engine or other prime mover; arrangements being made to raise
one end of the upper roll more than the other, so as to give the roll an incli-
nation at starting, which is found better adapted to produce the desired result.
The rolls are actuated in any convenient manner, and their rotation causes
that of the wheel blank upon its axis; or the latter may be moved inde-
pendently, if desirable. This operation finishes the wheel; or it may be
submitted to two sets of rolls, so as to be partly manufactured by one set and
finished by a second set of rolls.