AN IMPROVEMENT ON AXLETREES AND BOXES
Year: 1820

page_text: MILLICHAP'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
MILLICHAP, of Worcester, Coach Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of August, in the first year of His reign,
give and grant unto me, the said George Millichap, my exors, admors, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said George Millichap, my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT ON AXLETREES AND BOXES;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said George Millichap,
shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly:

page_text: cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same (relation being
thereunto had) will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Millichap, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed and the
following description thereof (that is to say):-
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the nave of a carriage wheel, with the
box and part of the axletree, &c., within it.
Figure 2, a cross section of the nave and other parts taken at the dotted
line A, A, in Figure 1.
Figure 3, the part of the axletree, with a section of the frame which carries
the friction rollers.
Figure 4, a back view of the friction roller frame with the rollers in it.
Figure 5, an edge view of that frame without the rollers.
Figure 6 an edge view, and Figure 7 a front view, of the steel cylindrical
ring.
Figure 8, a view of the outer end of the nave.
Figure 9, a front view of the screwed nut of the axle.
Figure 10, a back view of the end and interior part of the box.
Figure 11 a front view, and Figure 12 an edge view, of the covering plate
at the back of the nave. In all which Figures the same letters of reference
apply to the same parts.
B, B, part of the axletree. C, C, a flanch, having screwed holes, two of
which are shewn at D, D, to receive screws E, E, &c., which fasten the g
frame F, F (which contains the friction rollers), to the axle. G, G, &c., are
hardened steel, friction rollers, with necks or pivots turning in the radical
grooves H, H, &c., of the frame F, F, as shewn in Figure 4.
I, I, &c., are
hollow pillars, connecting together the plates which form the sides or ends of
the frame F, F, and through which pillars the screws E, E, &c., pass which
fasten the frame F, F, to the axle B, B. J is an hardened steel ring or
collar which is placed within the frame F, F, upon the axle B, B, and
between the axle and the friction rollers G, G, &c., so as to revolve freely
between the axle and the friction rollers. The central opening in the back
plate of the frame F, F, is widened to permit the entrance of the steel ring J
within the frame and rollers. K, K, &c., is the box, the back end of which
is widened and bored cylindrically so as to fit accurately upon the friction
rollers, the other or forward part of the box K, K; being also bored so as to
fit accurately upon the axle. L, L, &c., are grooves or cavities within the

page_text: box to hold oil. M is a part of the axle, which is made of a smaller diameter
than the other parts of it, in order also to hold oil. N, N, a leather collar
fitted upon the lesser diameter of the flanch C, C, and secured between that
flanch and the back plate of the roller frame F, F, and fitting close to the
inside of the back end of the box K, K, so as to prevent the escape of the oil
that way. 0, 0, is another leather collar placed between the back end of the
box K, K, and the covering plate P, P. As a further security against the
escape of the oil, and as a preventative to the entrance of any grit, dirt, &c.,
into the interior of the box, Q, Q, &c., are ears, with screwed holes in them
to receive the screws, R, R, &c., which bind the covering plate P, P, and
leather collar O, O, fast to the back end of the box K, K. S, S, is a wing or
fin projecting from the outside of the box as a preventative against its turning
within the nave. T, the screwed nut, which fits upon the screw U on the fore
end of the axle, and has gaps around it to receive the linch pin F, which
prevents that nut from turning or becoming unscrewed. W, a cap, which
screws upon the outside of the box, having a leather collar X placed between it
and the end of the box to prevent the escape of the oil from, and the entrance
of any dirt, grit, &c., into that end of the box, a space being provided within
the cap to contain a supply of oil which is introduced at the screwed
opening Y, which is afterwards closed by the screw Z, having a leather collar
under its head. The cap W is prevented from unscrewing by the screw a,
which passes through a hole in the flanch of the cap, and is screwed into the
wood of the nave. b, b, is the nave of the wheel, with parts of its spokes c, c,
inserted into it, the backs of the spokes d, d, being in a line with the conical
shoulder e of the enlarged part or shoulder of the axle. The friction rollers
are also to be so placed as that two of them shall be in a perpendicular line,
the one being exactly above, and the other under the axle, and the two others
on a level with it.
.
The chief novelties and advantages of my said Invention consist in the placing
the friction rollers at the back of the shoulder of the axle, and in fixing the
frame containing them firmly to the axle, and also in the introduction of the
moveable ring or collar between the friction rollers and the axle, and whereby
I conceive that I essentially lessen the strain or friction upon the shoulders of
the axles which so frequently occasions them to break in those parts.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Millichap, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one.
GEORGE (L.S.) MILLICHAP.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of February;
in the year of our Lord 1821, the aforesaid George Millichap came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.