IMPROVEMENTS IN AXLE BOXES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bewicke Blackburn, of York Buildings, Adelphi, in
the County of Middlesex, and Henry Carr, of Victoria Street, West-
minster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AXLE BOXES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bewicke Blackburn and
Henry Carr at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 17th November 1860.
We, BEWICKE BLACKBURN, of York Buildings, Adelphi, in the County of
Middlesex, and HENRY CARR, of Victoria Street, Westminster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AXLE BOXES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the use of a lubricating pad so formed that it can
be introduced into its place under the journal in a railway axle box of ordinary
construction through an aperture small enough to be readily and quickly
opened and shut, thus allowing the pad to be drawn out, examined, cleaned,
replaced, or renewed expeditiously, without the necessity, at present existing,
of lifting the carriage, or other slow and operose method of getting at the
interior of the axle box.
With this object we form the pad and its springs which bear it up against
the journal in such a way that it will collapse in passing through the narrow

page_text: aperture (by preference a screw hole) provided for the introduction of the
lubricating liquid, and then expand in the box. We make the lubricating
pad for axle boxes of woollen web set edgeways, and we also use a combination
of woollen web and leather set edgeways. A ring or loop or piece of woollen,
cotton, or other fibrous material, and attached or not to the spring, descends
to the bottom of the box to act as a wick for drawing up the oil or other
lubricating material. We sometimes arrange the parts with a loose or hinged
plate or carrier or otherwise, so that the spring or springs remain in the axle
box and the pad only is withdrawn.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Bewicke Blackburn and Henry Carr in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 16th May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, BEWICKE
BLACKBURN, of York Buildings, Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, and
HENRY CARR, of Victoria Street, Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Bewicke Blackburn and Henry Carr, Her special licence that we,
the said Bewicke Blackburn and Henry Carr, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Bewicke Blackburn and Henry
Carr, our 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 AXLE BOXES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Bewicke Blackburn
and Henry Carr, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us
or them, should particularly 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 we, the said Bewicke Blackburn and Henry Oarr,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in the use of a lubricating pad so formed that it can
be introduced into its place under the journal in a railway axle box of ordinary
construction through an aperture small. enough to be readily and quickly
opened and shut, thus allowing the pad to be drawn out and examined, cleaned,
replaced, and renewed expeditiously without the necessity, at present existing,
of lifting the carriage, or other slow and operose method of getting at the
interior of the axle box.
With this object we form the pad and its springs which bear it up against
the journal in such a way that it will collapse in passing through the narrow
aperture (by preference a screw hole) provided for the introduction of the
lubricating liquid, and then expand in the box. We make the lubricating,
pad for axle boxes of woollen web set edgeways, and we sometimes also use a
combination of woollen web and leather set edgeways. A ring or loop or
piece of woollen, cotton, or other fibrous material, and attached or not to the
spring, descends to the bottom of the box to act as a wick for drawing up the
oil or other lubricating material. We sometimes arrange the parts with a
loose or hinged plate or carrier, or otherwise, so that the spring or springs
remain in the axle box and the pad only is withdrawn.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention we will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section showing the lubricating pad in its place
in the axle box; Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same; Figure 3 is an
end elevation; Figure 4 is the plan of the axle box; Figures 5 and 6 are the
lubricating pad with the springs expanded. The same letters of reference
apply to all the Figures. A is the journal; B, B, B, the axle box; C, a screw
and screw hole at which the lubricating pad can be inserted into and withdrawn
from the axle box; a leather washer is applied to make the screw oil-tight;
D, D, is the lubricating pad, made of woollen fabric or other suitable material
or combination of materials; E, E, are springs to raise the lubricating pad
against the journal when in work, but capable of being collapsed so as to
admit of the pad and springs being inserted and withdrawn from the axle box
through the screw hole C; F is a sucker of fibrous material passing from the
pad down into the reservoir at the bottom of the axle box; G, G, is a trough
of metal or other suitable material fixed in the centre of the axle box to
contain the lubricating cushion and keep it in place, at the same time allowing

page_text: free play to the springs; H, H, is the lubricating liquid in the lower part of
the axle box.
We would remark that the form of the springs and lubricating pad used
may be varied, and in place of having the springs attached to the lubricating
pad, they may be made separate, and so arranged as to remain within the axle
box, the lubricating pad in such case only being arranged to be withdrawn
from the axle box. It is, however, preferred that the lubricating pad should be
fixed to its spring or springs, and that they should be capable of being removed
from and introduced into the axle box together. We would further remark
that we are aware that lubricating pads have before been employed in axle
boxes; we do not, therefore, claim their use generally, the peculiarity of our
Invention consisting in constructing and arranging axle boxes and the lubri-
cating pads and springs used therein in such manner that the lubricating pads
may be introduced into and removed from the axle boxes as herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Bewicke Blackburn and Henry Carr,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Ninth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
BEWICKE BLACKBURN. (L.S.)
HENRY CARR.
(L.S.)
BEWICKE BLACKBURN. (L.S.)
HENRY CARR.
(L.S.)