INVENTION OR IMPROVEMENT CALCULATED TO FACILITATE ROTATORY MOTION, AND LESSEN OR REMOVE FRICTION IN WHEEL CARRIAGES AND MACHINERY OF DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM-
PANTER, of Hampton Hill, Bath, in the County of Somerset, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Eleventh day of March now last past, did give and grant unto me, the
said William Panter, His especial licence that I, the said William Panter,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I or they should
agree with, and no others, during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my "INVENTION OR IMPROVEMENT
CALCULATED TO FACILITATE ROTATORY MOTION, AND LESSEN OR REMOVE FRICTION
IN WHEEL CARRIAGES AND MACHINERY OF DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said William
Panter, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the said
Letters Patent, reference being thereto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Panter, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in manner following, that is to say:-

page_text: My improvement is applicable to to that apparatus commonly known by
the name of friction rollers, or more properly anti-friction rollers, and which
are used to diminish the friction of axles, gudgeons, or pivots which require
to be supported whilst they revolve with a circular or rotatory motion, which
apparatus consists of several rollers of a cylindrical form, or other form, having
a circular section all of the same diameter disposed at cqual distances round
the circumference of the cylindrical axle or pivot which is to be supported;
and the said rollers are contained within the hollow cylinder forming the box,
socket, or bearing which is to receive and sustain such pivot or axle, the
rollers being of a sufficient diameter to form a contact with the external
surface of the axle, and at the same time a contact with the interior surface of
the box or socket. By this means the axle is supported and sustained within
the cylindrical box or socket, not by the actual contact between the surfaces
of the two, but by the intervention of 4, 6, 8, or other sufficient number of
the rollers to form as many points of bearing for the axle as will firmly sustain
the same concentric with the box or socket in which it is to revolve, and the
revolution of the axle will be greatly facilitated by such rollers, because by
turning or rolling round upon their own axes, those parts of their surfaces
which form the contact with the axle accompany the axle in its motion, and in
like manner those parts of the surfaces of the rollers which form the contact
with the internal surface of the box or socket, roll round within the same
without that rubbing or sliding of the surfaces upon each other which
friction, because the rollers at the same time that they roll round on their own
axes perform also a rolling round within the box, in the same direction as the
axle, but with a slower motion. The effect of the rollers is the same when
the box turns round upon the axle which is stationary as when the axle
revolves within the stationary. box. Certain means must be used by which the
rollers will be retained at equal distances from cach other around the axle, so
as to afford an equable bearing for the same; and also the rollers must be kept
exactly paralel to the axle; and be it understood that I do not make claim to
any exclusive privilege to make, use, and vend friction or anti friction rollers of
the above description, but that I confine my claim to the following improvement
thereon, by means of which improvement rollers of the aforesaid description
are left freely at liberty to revolve round the axle and within the box with the
twofold motion before mentioned, at the same time that they are securely retained
at equal distances from each other round the axle, and also they are retained
in their required positions in the direction of the length of the axle. I make
the rollers terminate at each of their ends or extremities in an obtuse conical
point, which point is in the centre line or imaginary axis of the roller; see A,
called

page_text: Figure 1. I also make a frame or lantern to contain the rollers, as shewn in
Figure 5 by B, C, D, D; it consists of two circles or hoops B and C, which
are united together by four or other sufficient number of pillars D. A flat or
face view of one of the hoops of the lantern is shewn in Figure 2, and a
section of the lantern with the rollers in it is shewn in Figure 4. The interior
faces of the hoops have cavities sunk in them, which are adapted to receive
the points a, a, of the rollers A, and the said cavities are of an angular shape,
and rather more obtuse than the angle of the conical points of the rollers, so
that the said points will touch in the bottom of the angular cavity, as shewn in
Figure 5, and retain the rollers in their due position with respect to distanco
from one to the other without confining the rollers in any other respect,
because the bottom of the angular cavities or gutters in the part where the
points of the rollers are to rest are elongated in the direction tending to the
centre of the hoop, see Figure 2, although the said cavities terminate in a
line or angle at bottom in the direction from one roller to the next, which
line or angle at the bottom of the cavities may be made more or less sharp
or rounding, so that the points of the rollers are made correspondent thereunto.
In one of the hoops B these angular cavities are cut quite out to the circum-
ference of the hoop, as shown in Figure 5, for the convenience of putting the
rollers into their places in the lantern; and in order to retain them, a thin
hoop F is put over the outside of the hoop B, but when the lantern and
rollers are put into their box they sustain themselves in their due position
between the box and the axle, and the office of the lantern is only to retain
them at equal distances from each other, and to keep them parallel to cach
other and also to the axle.
Figure 6 is a section of an axletree and box for wheel carriages, which is
provided with rollers fitted in lanterns made or constructed according to my
improvement. L is the axle arm made cylindrical; M, the shoulder at the
hurter end of the same; N, the linch or collar at the outer end of the arm
and the linch pin passing through both the linch and the axle; R, the wooden
nave of the wheel, having the box O, O, Q, Q, P, P, fixed into the centro
thereof. Two sets of rollors are applied, one at each end of the arm, and they
take their bearing against the inside of the box at O and P; each set of
rollers is mounted in a separate lantern, like Figure 5, of which only the
sections of the hoops B, B, and C, C, can be seen in Figure 6; but it is to
be understood that they are united by pillars, as aforesaid. To prevent friction
between the ends of the box and the outsides of the hoops B and C of the
lantern, a washer or thin loose ring r, r, is interposed at each end of each
lantern, between the ends of the box T, Y, and the surfaces of the hoop B, C ;

page_text: and further the part of the box T, V, and of the hoop B, C, which come in con-
tact with the said loose washers are made convex like a circular bead, but the
washer is flat, so that there is a very diminished surface in contact; or otherwise
I make a circular bead or projection upon cach side of the washer, as shewn
at Z, Figure 5, which I call a bead washer, and then the ends of the box and
the outsides of the hoops B and C may be made flat, as shewn at t, t, Figure 6.
To diminish the friction of the axle endways, or in the direction of its length,
a similar bead washer may be interposed at s, between the outer end T of the
box and the face of the linch N, which is fastened on the end of the axle by
the linch pin. The extreme end of the axle L may be made to terminate
with an obtuse conical point and a cap W, fastened to the end of the nave R
by screws X, the bottom of which cap bears against the said conical point of
the axle, and prevents the other end T of the box from bearing against the
shoulder M at the hurter end of the axle L'; or otherwise the end of the axle
may be made flat, and the obtuse conical point may be formed in the bottom of
the cap W, to bear against the flat end of the axle; the cap also incloses the
collet and linch pin, and prevents the pin getting out by accident, so as to let
the wheel off. S, S, is a deep hoop of iron which surrounds the shoulder M,
and is to prevent dirt and dust getting into the box. The parts O and P of
the box where the two sets of rollers work being larger than the part Q, it
may be advisable to make the two parts in separate pieces, and unite them
together by means of the tube Q, which is first fastened firmly into the centre
of the nave, and fitting a projecting neck of each of the parts O and P into
the ends of Q. The ends T, T, of the box O and P are fitted into circular
rebates, and fastened in by small screws which admit of easy removal to take
out the lanterns and rollers at either end.
Figure 3 represents a lantern to contain two sets of rollers, which are so
arranged that the rollers of one set are opposite to the intervals between the
rollers of the other set, which gives a greater number of points of bearing
between the circumference of the axle and the box, and in like manner the
lantern may be made to receive three sets of rollers. This is chiefly adapted
for the axles of machinery where the pressure is great. The diameter of the
outside of the hoops of the lantern must in all cases be less than the inside of
the collar of the box, and the diameter of the insides of the hoop must be
greater than that of the axle, as is shewn in Figure 4, so that the lantern cannot
touch or be obstructed in its free rotation with the rollers, but it must be
supported and carried round by the conical points of the rollers alone, and be
guided endways by the bead washers. The lanterns may be cast in iron or
other metal all in one piece, or may be put together; when great strength is not

page_text: required, the hoops B and C may be made as at G, Figure 8, in which the
hoop is raised up out of thick plate iron; and the cavities withinside to receive
the points of the rollers produce corresponding elevations on the outside or end
of the lantern, and in this case the points of bearing against the loose bead
washers t, Figure 6, are much diminished. The pillars D which unite the
ends or hoops B and C of the lantern together must be made thin edgeways,
so that they will never interfere with or touch the rollers, see Figure 4 and 7;
they may be fastened to the hoops by rivetting, soldering, or other means well
known to workmen, or may be cast in the same piece with the hoops.
H, I, J, and K, Figure 1, are different forms of rollers which may in different
cases be employed to facilitate rotatory motion.
I make no claim to the Invention of the form or shape of that part of the
rollers which bears between the axle and the box; but I claim the conical
points of the rollers when adapted to be received in the cells of lanterns in the
manner herein-before described, so that the rollers shall be unconfined in such
cavities, except in respect to their distances asunder, and also to the bead
washers when so applied as to retain such lanterns in their places endways in
the box.
The parts of this apparatus, may be made of any fit metal or material,
or metals or materials, but hardened steel is the best for the rollers and other
parts exposed to the rolling or bearing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Panter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventeen.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Ninth day of July, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Panter came before our Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.