IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS 13
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Stanley, of South Hampstead, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS
13
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Stanley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th April 1873.
I, JOHN STANLEY, of South Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN WHEELS FOR VEHICLES FOR FACILITATING THE DRAUGHT OR PROPULSION
THEREOF," to be as follows:-
=
My Invention relates to improved means for facilitating or casing the
draught or propulsion of wheeled vehicles, and consists in the peculiar
construction of wheel hereafter described, whereby a portion of the
weight of the load is utilized for assisting in the traction or propulsion of
the vehicle. According to my Invention this portion of the weight
which would be otherwise inert is applied to the wheel in such a manner
as to become motive power.

page_text: According to one arrangement the wheel is constructed with spokes
in the ordinary manner, but around the felly I apply a number of
segments or shoes fitted to, slide, therein (these segments forming the
outer circumference of the wheel) bearing on the ground in succession.
As all these segments and their adjuncts are similarly constructed and
operate in the same manner it will be sufficient to describe one only. ·
Each segment, fitted as before mentioned, projects inside the felly,
where it is connected to the end of a radial rod, whose other end bears
against a spring box or cushion fixed to the hub of the wheel to sustain
a portion of the load. On the r rear face of the segment is an inclined
plane which bears against the extremity of a curved rod fitted to slide in
guides, and whose other end bears against the adjoining or another
spoke on the rear or after side of the wheel. To the radial rod before
mentioned a chain or wire is connected, passing in the opposite direction
to the said curved rod under a sheave or sheaves fitted to the adjoining
and succeding spokes on the forward or advancing side of the wheel,
and is attached to a convenient point in the periphery of the wheel..
The sliding movement of the sections or shoes is thus transmitted
through the said connections to different parts of the wheel to assist in
the propulsion of the vehicle.
Another arrangement for carrying into effect the same principle, by
which a more direct application and greater gain of power is attained,
consists in construction the felly itself in segments or parts, each of
which is attached to one or more spokes fitted to slide in a spring box
in the hub of the wheel as before. The ends of all the segments of the
felly are bevelled in the same direction, so that as the load comes, on
to each segment it is forced slightly inwards towards the hub, and
coming in contact with the segment next behind tends to rotate the
wheel, the spring forcing the spoke out again as soon as the segment
leaves the ground.
According to another arrangement the ends of the segments may or
may not be bevelled and act as described, and the spokes are so arranged
that they do not radiate directly from the centre of the wheel but are
fitted tangentially in the hub in which they are to a certain extent free
to move, and the end of each spoke bears against the next or a following
spoke at an intermediate point in such manner that the spokes act as
levers and tend to assist in the propulsion of the wheel.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Stanley in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
STANLEY, of South Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Stanley, Her special licence that
I, the said John Stanley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Stanley, 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 WHEELS FOR VEHICLES
FOR FACILITATING THE DRAUGHT OR PROPULSION THEREOF," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Stanley, my executors or admini-
strators, 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 John Stanley, 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 here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
My Invention relates to improved means of facilitating the draught or
propulsion of wheeled vehicles, and consists in the peculiar construction
of wheel hereafter described whereby a portion of the weight of the load
is utilized for assisting in the traction or propulsion of the vehicle.

page_text: According to my Invention this portion of the weight which would be
otherwise inert is applied to the wheel in such a manner as to become
active and serve as motive nower.
Figure 1 shows a wheel constructed according to my Invention, parts t
being removed for the sake of clearness; Figure 2 shows a slightly
modified arrangement.
The felly of the wheel is constructed in segments, each alternate
segment A being movable, whilst those B are fixed or rigid as in an
ordinary wheel; segments B are attached to spokes B' fixed in the
nave C in the ordinary manner. I prefer to fix each segment B to two
spokes B¹, one at each end as shown. Each movable segment A may be
attached to a single spoke A' as in Figure 2, or a double spoke as in
Figure 1. In either case the segment is firmly fixed to the spoke. or
spokes, the latter being each fitted to slide in a spring box D in the nave :
of the wheel. The tire of the wheel is also divided into sections to
correspond to segments A, B, as shown, and the movable segments A are
made to project about one-fourth of an inch, more or less, beyond the
,circumference of the segments B, the spring box in the nave being
-constructed to allow just sufficient play of the movable segments A that
when the weight comes upon them they will yield by the compression of
their springs, and the circumference of segments A will coincide with
that of segments B. The springs D may be made of india-rubber and
spiral steel springs combined. The two ends of all the movable segments A
are bevelled or inclined in the same direction, and the ends of the fixed
segments B against which the movable segments A abut are bevelled or
inclined or correspond as shown at a, b, so that as the load comes on
each segment A in succession and it is forced inwards towards the nave
of the wheel it will bear at one inclined end against the corresponding
end of the preceding fixed segment B and tend to force the wheel round.
Thus the weight of the load itself is utilized to assist the rotation of the
wheel, which as before stated is the object of my Invention. As soon
as a movable segment leaves the ground it is forced outwards by its
spring and resumes its normal position in readiness to act again immedi-
ately the weight comes upon it. It is not necessary to bevel the ends of
the sections of the tire, but the tire of the fixed segments B may be
extended past the junction of the segments of the felly, and to avoid

page_text: shocks the tire of the movable segments would be slightly rounded at
the extremities, as shown. The abutting surfaces a, b, of the fellies A, B,
would be each faced with a metal plate to avoid wear, and to prevent the
entrance of dirt into the joints it would be covered by metal plates c
applied on either side of the felly and fixed to segments B, with the
segments A sliding between them; and said plates also serve to prevent
any lateral displacement of segments A.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention to be protected by the hercin-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, constructing wheels with movable segments, substantially as
herein described and shown in the Drawings, to operate in the manner
and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Stanley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
JOHN STANLEY (T.01