AN IMPROVEMENT IN CARRIAGE AXLES
Year: 1853

page_text: Sealed the 19th December 1853, and dated the 2nd November 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Ward at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd November 1853.
I, EDWARD WARD, of Potton, in the County of Bedfordshire, Coach
5 Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN CARRIAGE AXLES " to be as follows, viz. :-
In passing over the axle arm a flanged sleeve, upon which the wheel
revolves as upon a solid journal, being held in position by a collar
secured on the outer extremity of the axle arm.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Ward in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 1st May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
EDWARD WARD, of Potton, in the County of Bedfordshire, Coach
Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Ward, Her special licence that I,
the said Edward Ward, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Edward Ward, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CARRIAGE AXLES,"
communicated to me from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Edward Ward, 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 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 Edward Ward, do hereby
a 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 thereof (that is to say):
The said Invention consists in putting on and fixing to that part of
a carriage axle on which the axle box works. a sleeve or case of any
suitable metal or alloy, which said sleeve or case is attached to the said
axle in the manner herein-after described.
The axle box to which the wheel is affixed works upon the said sleeve

page_text: or case instead of upon the solid axle, as is usual, and when by wear or
otherwise the said sleeve or case no longer works with sufficient accu-
racy in the axle box the said sleeve or case may be removed from the
axle, and its position changed as herein-after described, or a new one
substituted.
Figure 1, represents in side elevation a carriage axle constructed ac-
cording to the said Invention; Figure 2, represents a transverse section
of the same taken through the line a, Figure 1; Figure 3, represents a
longitudinal section of the same taken through the line b, Figure 1; and
Figure 4, represents an axle without the sleeve or case. The same letters
denote the same parts in the several Figures. c, is the axle, the end of
which is formed as represented in Figures 3 and 4; that is to say, the
said end is slightly tapered, and has a shoulder d, against which the end
of the sleeve or case abuts. e, is a slot or groove for the purpose herein-
after explained. f, is the sleeve or case, which may be made of brass or
any other suitable metal or alloy. The said sleeve or case is made slightly
conical within, and cylindrical or slightly conical without, and fits the
end of the axle c accurately, as represented in the section, Figure 3.
The sleeve or case f has a feather or rib g, see Figures 2 and 3, which
said feather or rib enters the slot e, see Figure 4, when the sleeve
or case is put on the axle. The object of the said feather or rib 9, and
slot e, in which the said feather engages, is to prevent the rotation of
the said sleeve or case upon the axle c. Instead of making one feather
or rib in the inside of the sleeve or case f, and one slot in the axle c,
I sometimes make two feathers or ribs at opposite points in the interior
of the said sleeve or case, and two slots at opposite points on the axle,
or I make one feather or rib in the sleeve or case, and two slots or
grooves on the end of the axle. By making two slots or grooves at
opposite points on the end of the axle, and making one or two feathers
or ribs in the interior of the sleeve or case, the said sleeve or case may
be removed, and being turned through half a revolution put on the axle
again and secured in that position, so that that portion of the axle which
before had been undermost and had become worn will be brought upper-
most, and the unworn portion be made to work against the axle box. The
sleeve or case finay be secured in its place by the screwed nut h taking

page_text: on to the end of the axle, and the said screwed nut may be secured in its
place by the taper screwed pin i entering and expanding the end of the
axle which is slit, as seen in Figure 4, to permit of such expansion. But
the sleeve or case may be secured in its place on the axle in any other
convenient manner. Axles constructed according to the said Invention
are less costly and more durable than axles' made according to the
ordinary method, the axles constructed according to the said Invention
being more easily forged, and not liable to the injury which sometimes
arises from hardening axles made 'according to the ordinary method.
The said improved axle has also the advantage that the working part
can be renewed or repaired without removing that part of the said
axle which is attached to the carriage.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not limit myself to the precise method of carrying the
said Invention into effect herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of the said Invention. But I claim
as the said Invention the fixing of a sleeve or case upon that part of
a carriage axle on which the axle box works, the said sleeve or case
being made of any suitable metal or alloy, whether the said sleeve or
case be capable of being turned for the purpose of equalizing its wear
as herein-before described, or be incapable of being turned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Ward, have hereunto
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
EDWARD WARD. .(L.S.)