IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC WHEELS FOR RAIL- WAYS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bristow Hunt, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's
Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC WHEELS FOR RAIL-
WAYS."-A communication from abroad by François Garnier and
Franz Hessenland, both of Paris, France.
Sealed the 25th October 1872, and dated the 6th May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bristow Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th May 1872.
I, BRISTOW HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC WHEELS
FOR RAILWAYS," (a communication to me from abroad by François Garnier-
and Franz Hessenland, both of Paris, France,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a new process of manufacturing wheels of
iron or steel, and is equally applicable to wheels with spokes and to

page_text: plate or disc wheels. For the former the arms or spokes are each formed'
of a rolled bar bent hot upon a mandrel or matrix, according to their
form, by means of a machine or stamping hammer, as the case may be.
The rim is a circle of iron of a flat trough section rolled to the desired
dimensions, curved and welded in any convenient manner or made t
without welding.
The nave is formed by rolling a bar of iron into a helix upon a cylin-
drical mandrel so as to form a tube, which is welded in a matrix formed
in two parts, which gives it the exterior form, at the same time making
grooves or recesses therein for receiving the ends of the arms or spokes. 1
The arms or spokes are taken cold and placed according to their
arrangement in the wheel upon a plate or table prepared for that
purpose; the rim (the interior dimensions of which would not otherwise
allow of its enclosing the arms) is heated to a white beat in a furnace to
obtain the necessary expansion, and is then placed over the arms, which 1
it locks firmly together in contracting. The arms and rim being then
placed in suitable dies beneath a stamping hammer, the nave prepared
as above is heated to a white heat and placed over the inner ends of
the arms, which are passed into the grooves or recesses, and a few blows
of the hammer will fix them therein. Immediately after this operation,
and without allowing the nave and rim to cool, the wheel thus formed
is placed in a furnace and brought to a white welding heat. The thinner
parts being comparatively cooler than the thicker parts when they are
placed in the furnace all the parts of the wheel attain the degree of tem-
perature necessary for welding at the same time, at which moment the
wheel is again placed in the matrix, and by the action of the hammer
all the parts in contact are welded together, forming a wheel in one
single piece.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bristow Hunt in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRISTOW
HUNT, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Bristow Hunt, Her special licence that I,
the said Bristow Hunt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Bristow Hunt, 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
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
METALLIC WHEELS FOR RAILWAYS," (a communication to me from abroad by
François Garnier and Franz Hessenland, both of Paris, France,) upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Bristow Hunt, my exe-
cutors 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 Bristow Hunt, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, and on reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in a new process of manufacturing wheels of
iron or steel, and is equally applicable to wheels with spokes and to
plate or disc wheels.

page_text: In the annexed Drawings Figures 1 to 20 (inclusive) relate to the
manufacture of wheels with spokes, and Figures 21 to 30* (inclusive)
relate to plate or disc wheels.
Third. The welding of the same into a solid mass.
The preparation of the parts comprises the spokes, the rim, and the
nave. The putting together comprises the arrangement of the spokes
within the rim and the fitting of the nave to the arms.
The welding
comprises the welding and moulding of the whole by means of a
stamping hammer or hydraulic press.
:
Preparation of the Parts.-The arms or spokes R (Figures 1, 2, and 3).
are formed each of a rolled bar bent hot upon a mandril or matrix,
according to their form and by means of a machine or stamping hammer,
as the case may be. The rim J (Figure 4, side view; Figure 5, section ;)
is a circle of iron of a flat trough section rolled to the desired dimensions,
curved and welded in any convenient manner or made without welding.
The nave M (Figures 6 to 11) is formed by rolling a bar of iron into a
helix (Figures 6 and 7) upon a cylindrical mandril so as to form a tube,
which is welded in a matrix formed in two parts A, A' (Figures 8 and 9),
which gives it the exterior form, at the same time making grooves or
recesses therein (Figures 10 and 11) for receiving the ends of the arms
or spokes.
Putting together of the Parts.-The spokes, rim, and nave are thus
prepared separately, and when it is desired to put the wheel together it
is effected in the following manner:-The spokes are taken cold and
placed according to their arrangement in the wheel (Figures 12 and 13)
upon a plate or table prepared for that purpose; the rim J (the interior
dimensions of which would not otherwise allow of its enclosing the arms)
is heated to a white heat in a furnace to obtain the necessary expansion,
and is then placed over the spokes, which it locks firmly together in
contracting. The rim and spokes thus solidly united are placed in
suitable dies (Figures 14 and 15) beneath a stamping hammer; the
nave M prepared as above is heated to a white heat and placed over tho

page_text: inner ends of the arms, which are passed into the grooves or recesses a, a,
and a few blows of the hammer will fix them therein by compressing the
iron around them, (Figures 16 and 17).
Welding.-Immediately after this operation, and without allowing the
nave and rim to cool, the wheel thus formed is taken by means of the
grippers (Figure 18) and placed in a furnace, where it is brought to a
white welding heat. The thinner parts being comparatively cooler than
the thicker parts, which are hot when they are placed in the furnace, all
the parts of the wheel attain the degree of temperature necessary for
welding at the same time, and at this moment the wheel is again seized
by the grippers and placed in the matrix (Figures 14 and 15) or under
the action of a stamping hammer, and all the parts in contact become
welded together, forming a wheel in one single piece (Figures 19
and 20).
This system or rather process of manufacture may be applied as well
to wheels with curved spokes as to those having straight arms.
For plate or disc wheels the rim J (Figures 4* and 5*) is the same.
The disc replacing the spokes is formed of two plates c and c¹ (Figures 21
and 22) previously pressed in moulds, which raise rims b, b', on their
exterior and interior circumferences. These two discs are placed back
to back with the expanded rim, as in the former case, and the nave M
(previously stamped to the form shewn at Figures 23 and 24) is placed
in the centre. The wheel thus arranged (Figure 25) is struck one or
two blows with the hammer on the top of the nave, which by com-
pressing the latter forms a collar and imprisons the inner edges of the
discs (Figure 26). The wheel thus put together is brought to a reddish
white heat in a furnace, then placed in the matrix (Figures 27 and 28),
where under the blows of a hammer or by hydraulic pressure all the
parts in contact are welded together.
Instead of employing flat discs they may be previously prepared in
such a manner as to present either radial corrugations, as represented by
Figures 29 and 29*, or a circular corrugation, as shewn at Figures 30
and 30 (section and plan).
This system of manufacture of wheels with spokes or discs is equally
applicable to iron or to steel.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention for
* Improvements in the Manufacture of Metallic Wheels for Railways,"

page_text: together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that
I claim as the Invention communicated to me by the above-named
François Garnier and Franz Hessenland, the system or method of manu-
facturing iron or steel wheels with spokes or plates, substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated by the Drawings hereto annexed,
and consisting principally of the following points:-