IMPROVEMENTS: IN SECURING AXLES AND AXLE BOXES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugene Gustavus Muntz, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS:
IN SECURING AXLES AND AXLE BOXES."
Sealed the 10th July 1868, and dated the 28th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugeno Gustavus Muntz
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th January 1863.
I, EUGENE GUSTAVUS MUNTZ, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN SECURING AXLES AND AXLE BOXES," to be as follows, that is
to say:-
I form upon an axle the half section of a groove running round or partly
round the axle, the counterpart of this groove being formed on the inside
periphery of the box; an opening somewhat larger in diameter than the
section of the entire groove is cut in the box inclining towards the groove
this opening has a flange round the orifice, reducing its diameter at that part,
and forming a collar, the axle and box being fitted together with the grooves
in apposition. A plug of india-rubber or other flexible material furnished
with a ring or knob at one end, below which is a projecting collar formed on
the plug, is inserted into the orifice in the box, and winds itself round, or
partly round the groove in the axle and box, being prevented from escaping
by the collar upon the plug impinging against the flange or collar formed in.

page_text: the opening by which it enters. The flexibility or elasticity of the material
of which the plug is formed allows of its being withdrawn by force when
required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Eugene Gustavus Muntz in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENE
GUSTAVUS MUNTZ, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Eugene Gustavus Muntz, Her special licence that I, the said Eugene
Gustavus Muntz, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Eugene Gustavus Muntz, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN SECURING AXLES AND AXLE BOXES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Eugene Gustavus Muntz, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Eugene Gustavus Muntz, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
I form upon an axle the half section of a groove running round or partly
round the axle, the counterpart of this groove being formed on the inside
periphery of the box; an opening somewhat larger in diameter than the
section of the entire groove is cut in the box inclining towards the groove,

page_text: this opening has a flange round the orifice, reducing its diameter at that part
and forming a collar, the axle and box being fitted together with the grooves
in apposition. A plug of india-rubber or other flexible material furnished
with a ring or knob at one end, below which is a projecting collar formed on
the plug is inserted into the orifice in the box, and winds itself round or
partly round the groove in the axle and box, being prevented from escaping
by the collar upon the plug impinging against the flange or collar formed in
the opening by which it enters. The flexibility or elasticity of the material
of which the plug is formed allows of its being withdrawn by force when
the plug is inserted into the orifice in the box, and winds itself round or
partly round the groove in the axle and box, being prevented from escaping
by the collar upon the plug impinging against the flange or collar formed in
the opening by which it enters. The flexibility or elasticity of the material
of which the plug is formed allows of its being withdrawn by force when
required.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of an axle and box constructed according
to my Invention; Figure 2, a transverse section of the same, shewing also the
plug; and Figure 3, a view of the plug by itself.
(A) is the axle, (B) the box, and (C) the groove; (D) is the plug, formed
solely or partially of india-rubber, or other suitable resilient or flexible
material, or of annealed wire cased with vulcanized india-rubber, or with
leather, yarn, or fine catgut, or it may be formed of coiled wire. This plug
is inserted through a tangential opening in the box into the groove formed
upon the axle and box up to the shoulder (E) upon the plug, the pliable and
resilient nature of the material forming the plug enabling it to curl round a
portion of the groove, and preventing its escape, unless forcibly withdrawn by
means of the ring (F).
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I claim without limiting myself to
these precise details, the improvements in securing axles and axle boxes by
means of a plug and groove, as herein more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugene Gustavus Muntz, have here-
unto set my band and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
EUGENE GUSTAVUS MUNTZ. (L.S.)