IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR TRACTION ENGINES AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Loftus Perkins, of Seaford Street, Gray's Inn
Road, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
Aswan "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Loftus Perkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd May 1871.
I, LOFTUS PERKINS, of Seaford Street, Gray's Inn Road, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR TRACTION ENGINES AND OTHER VEHICLES," to be
as follows:-
Heretofore it has been proposed to place an elastic tyre of vulcanized
india-rubber around the wheels of traction engines and to protect the
outer circumference of such tyres by a chain passed around it, but by
reason of the manner in which the several slides or links of the chain
have been jointed together the chain has when in use rapidly stretched

page_text: and become loose, and by reason of such constant stretching it has
rapidly worn out.
According to my Invention I form the chain of a number of plates
of metal rounded at the edges, which are to be jointed together, and I
couple together these ends of the links by two pins, one pin passing
through a hole bored concentrically through the rounded end of one
plate, whilst the other pin passes through a hole similarly bored through
the end of the other plate. Each pin at one of its ends has fixed to it a
short arm having a hole bored transversely through it for the end of the
other pin to pass into; the two pins are thus fixed together and form a
connecting link between the adjacent links of the chain of plates which
are to form the wearing surface of the elastic tyre. The plates are
formed with side flanges standing up from them to come on the opposite
sides of the vulcanized india-rubber tyre, and are thus kept in position.
In place of jointing together the links in the manner above described
the ends of the links may be made to interlock one with the other and
be coupled together by one pin so long as the ends of each link are
rounded and the pin which connects them is concentric with such rounded
ends.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Loftus Perkins in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd November 1871,
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOFTUS
PERKINS, of Seaford Street, Gray's Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Loftus Perkins, Her special license that I,
the said Loftus Perkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Loftus Perkins, my 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

page_text: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR TRACTION
ENGINES AND OTHER VEHICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Loftus Perkins, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 I, the said Loftus Perkins, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
Heretofore it has been proposed to place an elastic tyre of vulcanized
india-rubber around the wheels of traction engines, and to protect the
outer circumference of such tyres by a chain passed around it, but by
reason of the manner in which the several shoes or links of the chain
have been jointed together the chain has when in use rapidly stretched
and become loose, and by reason of such constant stretching it has
rapidly worn out.
According to my Invention I form the chain of a number of plates of
metal rounded at the edges which are to be jointed together, and I
couple together these ends of the links by two pins, one pin passing
through a hole bored concentrically through the rounded end of one
plate, whilst the other pin passes through a hole similarly bored through
the end of the other plate. Each pin at one of its ends has fixed to it
a short arm having a hole bored transversely through it for the end of
the other pin to pass into. The two pins are thus fixed together and
form a connecting link between the adjacent links of the chain of plates
which are to form the wearing surface of the elastic tyre.
Figure 1 is a side view partly in section; Figure 2, an edge view
partly in section; and Figure 3, an edge view of a wheel constructed as
above described.
a, a, is the rigid central portion of the wheel, which may be constructed
in any suitable manner. The manner in which I prefer to form it is
shewn by the Drawing. b, b, is the elastic tyre of vulcanized india-

page_text: rubber, which lies between flanges a¹, a¹, projecting from the periphery
of the central portion a of the wheel at its two sides. c, c, are the
several bearing plates which are linked together to form a chain around
the circumference of the elastic tyre and protect it from wear. These
bearing plates are formed with rounded edges, as shewn, and with holes
through them concentric with the rounded edges. d, d, are pins passed
through these holes and connected in pairs at their ends to side plates
which form connecting links to couple together the several links c.
Each plate is forged or formed with one of the pins d projecting from it;
this is passed through one of the bearing plates c and into a hole in a
side plate e on the opposite side of the wheel, and is fixed there by
rivetting over or otherwise. The pin projecting from the last-mentioned
side plate is similarly passed through the next bearing plate and into
a hole bored through the first-mentioned side plate e and fixed by
rivetting or otherwise. The several bearing plates c, c, are thus linked
together into a chain by the side plates e and pins d carried by them.
Every alternate side plate e is, as shewn, formed to project up at the
side of the vulcanized india-rubber tyre and to lap over the flanges a¹ at
the two sides of the central portion of the wheel. The chain is thus
kept in position around the elastic tyre b.
In place of jointing together the links or bearing plates in the manner
above described the ends of the links or bearing plates may be made to
interlock one with the other, and be coupled together by one pin so long
as the ends of each link or bearing plate are rounded and the pin which
connects them is concentric with such rounded ends. In this case some
of the bearing plates are formed with flanges standing up from them at
the sides to come against the flanges a¹ of the central portion of the
wheel, or if each bearing plate is composed of a number of bars placed
side by side with the rounded ends of the bars forming the adjacent
bearing plates interlocking between them, then the outermost bars of
some of the bearing plates are thus formed to project over the flanges a¹.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which I prefer to carry the same into effect, I would have it understood
that what I claim as my improvements in wheels for traction engines
and other vehicles is,―
1. The combined arrangement of construction of wheel substantially
as herein described and shewn by the Drawings annexed.

page_text: 2. The protecting the vulcanized india-rubber tyre of the wheels of
traction engines and other vehicles by bearing plates formed into a chain
substantially in the manner herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Loftus Perkins, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.