IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Llewellyn Light, of No. 5, Great
.
Winchester Street Buildings, in the City of London, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY
AND OTHER WHEELS"
for the Invention of
AND OTHER WHEELS"
"
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Llewellyn Light
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th February 1874.
I, CHARLES LLEWELLYN LIGHT, of No. 5, Great Winchester Street
Buildings, in the City of London, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
RAILWAY AND OTHER WHEELS," to be as follows:-
The objects of my Invention arc,-
Firstly. To make a single plate wheel substantially in the manner.
herein specified, either with chilled tyres or prepared to receive rolled
iron or steel tyres, which shall be shrunk on to the cast-iron centres, or
otherwise, and secured on in the usual manner.
'

page_text: . Secondly. To make by founding railway, tramway, or other disc
wheels of toughened iron, with the periphery founded or cast against a
chill, and cast at once in one entire piece.
It is well known that much difficulty has been experienced in
producing by the operations of founding an entire cast-iron railway
wheel having a chilled rim or tyre, various forms or patterns having
been devised for such purpose.
It has been found that most of what are termed the plate or double
plate wheel, or those in which the rim and hub are connected together
by one or more curved plates or discs, arc liable to fracture at the rim
or tread when running at high velocities and under heavy loads.
It is to be remarked, in order to overcome the disastrous effects liable
to be produced by the contraction of the disc plates during the process
of casting, and also as a provision for contraction and expansion under
changes of temperature, they have been made with concentric undu-
lations, producing a serpentine curve in the section of the plate when
the section is taken in a radial plane from the hub to the rim. Also
with annular tubes running through the disc, and in a variety of other
forms. Wheels thus formed or constructed are unequal to the vertical
and lateral shocks to which they are subject, and are consequently
bracketed and braced in order to give the required stiffness, thus
destroying the primary principles involved.
A wheel constructed with straight spokes is generally considered
better adapted to withstand shocks than one having curved spokes; it has
however been considered exceedingly difficult if not impossible to cast a
straight spoke wheel with a chilled rim and a solid or undivided hub.
In order to produce such it became necessary to split or divide the hub
into sections, thereby not only greatly weakening it but requiring.much
labour and expense in preparing it for the axle.
In the double plate cast-iron wheel there are many disadvantages,
viz.,―
1st. In order to ensure the strength to the plates it becomes necessary
to put much more metal into both plates than would be required in a
solid form in one plate.
Secondly. It involves great labour and expense in moulding, coring,

page_text: Thirdly. Is always liable to fracture or collapse under great lateral and
vertical pressure.
Fourthly. A double plate wheel gives no direct support between the
hub and the actual tread of the wheel, and is consequently liable after
running a short time to split into two parts.
The nature and object of my Invention, which I am desirous of'
securing by Letters Patent is, the construction of a cast-iron wheel for
railways, tramways, and other purposes (pullies and other disc wheels,
which will combine great strength of form to sustain lateral and
vertical shocks, with ample provision to allow for contraction and
expansion under extremes of temperature without fracture, and alsò
economy in founding.
The accompanying Drawings will clearly indicate the peculiarities of
my Invention.
j
Figure 1 is an elevation of wheel; Figure 2 is an edge view of
same; and Figure 3 is a section taken on line A, A. It will be observed.
on reference to these Figures that my object is attained by introducing
a single plate or disc B with curvilinear radiations C, C, as shewn from
hub D to rim E, as the provision previously referred to for contraction
and expansion; but I do not confine myself to any particular degree of
curvature. The corrugations of the disc, occupying transversely at least
three-fifths of rim, gives a direct vertical support to the rim and to
its axis in the most perfect manner. The sinuositics of the disc f,
Figure 4, join on to the rim in a serpentine form, and gives great
strength to resist lateral and vertical strains and shocks, and a perfectly
trussed wheel of, the simplest and most economical form, being a simple
casting without a corc, and consequently produced at much less cost
than ordinary cast-iron wheels.
30
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Charles Llewellyn Light in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
LLEWELLYN LIGHT, of 5, Great Winchester Street Buildings, in the City
of London, Civil Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in. the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Llewellyn Light,
Her special licence that I, the said Charles Llewellyn Light, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles Llewellyn Light, 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 United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Islo
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY
AND OTHER WHEELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Llewellyn Light, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Charles Llewellyn Light, 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 :—
It is well known that much difficulty has been experienced in
producing by the operations of founding an entire cast-iron railway
wheel having a chilled rim or tyre, various forms or patterns having
been devised for such purpose.
It has been found that most of what are termed the plate or double
plate wheel, or those in which the rim and hub are connected together
by one or more curved plates or discs, are liable to fracture at the rim
or tread when running at high velocities and under heavy loads.
It is to be remarked in order to overcome the disastrous effects liable
to be produced by the contraction of the disc plates during the process
of casting, and also as a provision for expansion and contraction under
changes of temperature, they have been made with concentric undu-
lations, producing a serpentine curve in the section of the plate when

page_text: the section is taken in a radial plane from the hub to the rim. Also
with annular tubes running through the disc, and in a variety of other
forms. Wheels thus formed or constructed are unequal to the vertical
and lateral shocks to which they are subject, and are consequently
3 bracketed and braced in order to give the required stiffness, thus
destroying the primary principles involved.
:
A wheel constructed with straight spokes is generally considered
better adapted to withstand shocks than one having curved spokes; it
has however been considered exceedingly difficult if not impossible to
cast a straight spoke wheel with a chilled rim and a solid or undivided
hub. In order to produce such it became necessary to split or divide
the hub into sections, thereby not only greatly weakening it but
requiring much labour and expense in preparing it for the axle.
In the double plate cast-iron wheel there are many disadvantages,
viz.,-
First. In order to ensure the strength to the plates it becomes necessary
to put much more metal into both plates than would be required in a
solid form in one plate.
Secondly. It involves great labour and expense in moulding, coring,
and removing the core.
Thirdly. Is always liable to fracture or collapse under great lateral
and vertical pressure.
Fourthly. A double plate wheel gives no direct support between the
hub and the actual tread of the wheel, and is consequently liable after
running a short time to split into two parts.
The nature and object of my Invention is the construction of a
cast-iron wheel for railways, tramways, and other purposes (pullies and
other disc wheels), which will combine great strength of form to sustain
lateral and vertical shocks, with ample provision to allow for contraction
and expansion under extremes of temperature without fracture, and
also economy in founding.
The accompanying Drawings will clearly indicate the peculiarities of
my Invention.
Figure 1 is an elevation of wheel; Figure 2 is an edge view of same;
and Figure 3 is a section taken on line A, A. It will be observed on

page_text: reference to these Figures that my object is attained by introducing a
single plate or disc B with curvilinear radiations C, C, as shown, from
hub D to rim E, as the provisions previously referred to for contraction
and expansion; but I do not confine myself to any particular degree of
curvature. The corrugations of the disc, occupying transversely at least
three-fifths of rim, gives a direct vertical support to the rim and to its
axis in the most perfect manner.
The sinuosities of the disc f, Figure 4,
join on to the rim in a serpentine form, and gives great strength to
resist lateral and vertical strains to shocks, and a perfectly trussed wheel
of the simplest and most economical form, being a simple casting
without a core, and consequently produced at much less cost than
ordinary cast-iron wheels.
-
What I particularly claim as new and as my Invention is, con-
structing single plate wheels in the manner herein specified, and with
radial corrugations, as shown in the annexed Drawings, either with
chilled tyres or prepared to receive rolled iron or steel tyres, which shall
be shrunk on to the cast-iron centres, or otherwise, and secured on in
the usual manner.
Secondly. I claim constructing railway, tramway, or other disc wheels
of toughened iron, with the periphery founded or cast against a chill,
and cast at once in one entire piece, with radial corrugations in the web,
as and for the purposes set forth and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Llewellyn Light, have here.
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.