IMPROVEMENTS THE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Christopher Mansell, of Ashford, in the
County of Kent, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Christopher Mansell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th April 1862.
I, RICHARD CHRISTOPHER MANSELL, of Ashford, in the County of Kent,
5 Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS TO BE USED ON RAILWAYS," to be as
follows:-
I
propose to make certain combinations of grooved, filleted, or flanged tyres
in connection with grooved, filleted, or flanged plates or rings for securing
tyres from flying off in the event of their breakage, and grooved, filleted, or
flanged rims of wheels, and other appliances in connection therewith. Firstly,
I apply a lining or cushion of wood or other suitable material placed between
the tyres and iron rims of wheels in combination with tyre-securing plates or
rings, and also in combination with tyres manufactured with an inward
projecting flange on or near to each outer face, or other side of the tyre and
wheel.
Secondly, I propose to leave openings in the rims at the top of the spokes

page_text: of iron wheels securing the tyres of those wheels from flying off in the event
of their breakage, by means of fastenings passing through the securing plates
or rings, and the openings previously named.
And thirdly, I propose fastening, securing plates, or rings, to the tyres, or
to the tyres and rims of wheels by hammering the edges of the tyres or the
edges of the tyres and rims over the edge or edges of the securing plates
or rings, and thereby fasten them to-the tyres or to the tyres and rims of
wheels, or to fasten them in like manner at one side only in connection
with tyres that may be made with a projection or flange to clip or otherwise
grasp the rim at the other side of the wheel.
In making these combinations I propose to use the securing plates or rings
in connection with the tyres and rims of wheels, and also with the tyres only,
and to make the tyres or tyres and rims with a groove in or fillet or flange on
either one or both of their sides, and I make the securing plates or rings of
any form, in cross section that may be required to fit the section of the grooves
in or fillets or projections on the tyres, or in or on the tyres and rims of wheels
so as to grasp the same.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Christopher Mansell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
CHRISTOPHER MANSELL, of Ashford, in the County of Kent, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Christopher Mansell, Her special licence, that I, the said Richard
Christopher Mansell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Christopher Mansell, 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 CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS TO BE USED ON RAILWAYS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Christopher Mansell,

page_text: 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 Richard Christopher Mansell 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 Sheet of Drawings, hereunto
annexed, and forming part of this my Specification, to the Figures drawn
thereon, and to the letters of reference placed on the Diagrams.
My improvements in the construction of wheels to be used on railways,
consist in making certain combinations of grooved, filleted, or flanged tyres
in connection with grooved, filleted, or flanged plates or rings for securing
the tyres on to the bodies of wheels, and preventing the said tyres flying off in
the event of their breakage, and grooved, filleted, or flanged rims of wheels
and other appliances in connection therewith. And in making these combina-
tions I use the securing plates or rings in connection with the tyres and rims
of wheels, and also with the tyres only, and I make the tyres, or tyres and
rims, with a groove in, or fillet or flange on either one or both of their sides,
and I make the securing plates or rings of any form in cross section that may
be required to fit the section of the grooves in or fillets or projections on the
tyres, or in or on the tyres and rims of wheels, so as to grasp the same. And
I would here remark that by these combinations the tyres of wheels are not
only retained in their place when broken, but also that they are less liable to
break than those that are secured by bolts or rivets passing through them
and the rim of the wheel. And by these improvements the tyres are also
easily removed and replaced. And further that the wear and tear or
destruction of tyres on wheels with iron bodies is considerably reduced wlien
constructed or used in the manner berein-after set forth.
And having thus explained the nature of my said Invention,, I will proceed
to describe the annexed Drawing in which I have represented several Figures
illustrating my Invention, and some of the principal variations or modifications
of which it is susceptible, and to exemplify the manner in which it is to be
and may be performed.
The first part of my Invention, wherein the bodies of ordinary iron wheels
are represented with various modifications of my improved combination of
tyres, cushions and securing plates or rings, is shewn by Figures 1 to 8, both

page_text: included, and Figures 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 21, and in these and on all
the other Figures similar letters of reference are placed to denote similar parts.
Figure 1 represents the front elevation of one of my improved railway
wheels with the usual description of iron body. T is the tyre having an
endless groove g, formed on each face or side near to its inner periphery; R is
the rim of the body; S, S, two of the short securing plates, each of which has
double flanges, one flange being made to fit and enter into the groove of the
tyre, and the other into a groove made in each side of the rim, and are
placed opposite each other at each side of the wheel, as shewn in cross section
at Figure 2. Or the rim flanges of the securing plates may pass under and
grasp the interior periphery of the rim, as shewn in elevation at Figure 3, and
in cross section at Figure 4; C is the cushion made of timber, or of any
other suitable material extending between the rim of the body and the interior
periphery of the tyre, and is made of the same width as the rim of the body
of the wheel; B shews one of the bolts which pass through the securing
plates and cushion, and thereby fasten the tyre and the riu of the wheel
securely together.
In applying this improvement I first attach the timber cushion to the rim
of the body of the wheel in a temporary manner by screws, staples, or
otherwise, and make it perfectly circular, after which I apply the tyre by any
of the usual methods, and secure it as hercin-before described. Figure 5 is
the front elevation of a wheel to which another modification is applied, and
wherein the securing plates are made in continuous rings in lieu of short
segmental plates, and are applied in like manner with the flanges of each ring
entering into the grooves of the tyre and the grooves in the rim of the body
of the wheel, as shewn in cross section by Figure 2; or they may be applied
with their rim flanges passing under the interior periphery of the rim as at
Figure 4.
And another modification in railway wheels may be made by placing a
continuous ring at one side of the wheel and short segmental plates at the
other side, as shewu by the ring in front elevation at Figure 5, and the short
segmental plates in the back elevation at Figure 7; and although it is necessary
that each of the short securing plates or segments have double flanges, yet
it is not so with the continuous rings, as they may be used either with a
double or a single flange to each, taking care that in all cases where single
flanged rings are used, that those flanges are made to fit and enter into the
grooves of the tyres, and that the depth of the rings is sufficient to pass over
the depth of the cushion and bear against the sides of the rims of the bodies
of the wheels, as shewn in cross section by Figure 6; or a single flanged ring

page_text: may be used at one side and a double flanged ring or double flanged plates
or segments at the other side, as shewn in cross section by Figure 8. When
rings are fitted on old wheels they may be cut across for the sake of con-
venience in getting them over the axles when found necessary.
.
The second part of my Invention which also relates to securing tyres to
ordinary iron wheels is represented by Figures 9; 10 and 11, the tyres being
grooved and the securing plates and rings being flanged in like manner as in
the first part. The bodies of these wheels are made in the usual inanner by
bending the spokes so as to form the rim, but in lieu of filling the openings
that are made by the curvature at the top of the spokes with iron, and
welding the same to form a continuous. rim, I leave them open or partially
fill them with wood or other material suitable as a medium to be placed
between two metals and after fixing the tyre to the body by shrinkage or by
any of the usual methods I place securing plates or segments or a securing
ring at each side of the wheel fitting one of each of their flanges into the
groove at each side of the tyre, and the other into a groove in the rim, or
passing it under the inner periphery of the rim and into a groove formed
across the spokes, and secure the tyre and rim togetlier by bolts or other
fastenings passing through the securing plates or segments or rings by means
of the openings previously named. Figure 9 represents the front elevation
of a wheel with this arrangement (and in order to shew one of the openings
in the rim, part of the front securing ring is represented as broken and
removed), and Figure 10 represents a cross section of the tyre securing
rings and rim of the same. T is the grooved tyre; S, S, the double flanged
securing rings; 9, Figure 9, the groove across the spokes, and B, Figure 10,
one of the bolts fastening the rings, tyre, and rim of the wheel securely
together.
And another modification of this arrangement is shewn in elevation at
Figure 11, where double-flanged segments or securing plates are substituted
at each side in lieu of rings, this elevation is also represented with one of the
securing plates removed, in order to shew the opening for the fastening to
pass through, and its cross section is the same as at Figure 10.
And I may
remark that in this, as well as in the first described part of my Invention,
securing rings may either be double or single flanged and they may be used
at one side of each wheel and securing plates or segments at the other side as
previously described.
As relates to the third part of my Invention as shadowed out in my
Provisional Specification, I would here observe that having, since filing the
said Provisional Specification, discovered that the subject matter of that part

page_text: therein mentioned had been anticipated by others, it is not my intention
further to describe, or claim any interest therein. The tyres and the segmental
or securing plates, and the rings or either or any of them may be made
either of iron or steel, and the tyres and rims of the wheels may have V-grooves
which are sometimes called fillets, and at other times bevilled flanges mado
in
any of the forms shewn in cross section by Figures 13, 14, 16 and 18, or
the tyres may have one form of groove, or fillet, or flange, and the rims another,
as shewn in cross section at Figures 16, 18, 20 and 21, or the rims may be
simply undercut, as represented at Figures 14 and 20, or they may be rebated
as shewn at Figure 12, and the securing rings, and the short segmental
pieces or plates may have fillets or V-flanges, as represented in cross section
at Figures 15 and 17, or they may have a flange at one edge, and a V-fillet at
the other if preferred, as at Figure 19, and it will be seen that these improve-
mments not only save the expense of making holes through the tyres and rims
of wheels, but also secure the tyres from the danger of breaking in consequence
of such perforations and provide for the retention of the tyres and consequent
safety of wheels in the event of their tyres breaking. And further that where
the arrangements described in the first part are used the laminating and very
mischievous effect of blows upon the tyres of wheels will be considerably
reduced by means of the cushion interposed between the two pieces of metal
composing the tyre and rim of the wheel.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and shewn means
by which it is or may be carried into practical effect, I desire it to be
distinctly understood that I do not claim the exclusive use of any of the parts
taken separately, but only of the various combinations of parts for the purpose
of improving the construction of wheels used on railways essentially as herein-
before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Christopher Mansell, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
RICH. C. MANSELL
(L.S.)