IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUC- TION OF WHEELS TO BE USED ON RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Christopher Mansell, of Ashford, in the County
of Kent, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUC-
TION OF WHEELS TO BE USED ON RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS."
Sealed the 6th August 1878, and dated the 18th June 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Christopher Mansell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th June 1878.
RICHARD CHRISTOPHER MANSELL, of Ashford, in the County of Kent, Gentleman.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS TO BE USED ON RAILWAYS AND
TRAMWAYS."
My Invention relates to certain new and improved forms of wheel bosses and
arrangements in the construction of wheel centres, whereby they shall be so
connected as to remove the existing liability of wheel bosses becoming loose and
revolving within the bodies of wheels, and thus prevent the mischief and accidents
which result therefrom.
In making these improvements to disc-bodied wheels I propose to make slots or
slot holes in the checks of their bosses and to prepare corresponding grooves, slots,
or passage ways through the timber or other material forming their bodies, so that
I may pass flat keys or driving plates across from side to side through the bodies of
the wheels and the cheeks of the bosses.
I may secure these keys or driving plates in their places by a head on one side,
and by rivetting over on the other, or rivetting over on both sides; or I may make
the keys or driving plates with projecting bolt, or lug ends to be screwed or rivetted
outside the cheeks of the bosses. The keys or driving plates to have a good surface
bearing within the bodies of the wheels, and to fit the slots or slot holes within the
cheeks of the bosses when they are required to enter therein, and by these means
prevent the possibility of the discs turning within the cheeks of the bosses or round

page_text: the bosses of the wheels. Or I may attain the same object without slots in the
bosses by making each of the keys or driving plates with a boss having a hole
through it sufficiently large to receive the usual bolts which pass through the cheeks
of the bosses and the bodies of the wheels; or the keys or driving plates may be
quite flat on their sides, and thick enough to receive the bolts just named. In
these cases the ends of the keys or driving plates may or may not pass into the
cheeks of the bosses, or into radial grooves made therein. I may attain the same
object by making slots in the outer edges of the cheeks of the bosses, making
corresponding grooves through the bodies of wheels, which shall admit of a larger
bearing surface of the keys in the bodies of the wheels than in the cheeks of the
bosses, placing the flat keys or driving plates therein; and in all these cases I prefer
making the form of the cheeks of the bosses of larger diameter at the places where
the slots are made than in the other parts.
I may also attain the same object by making the outer edges of the checks of
the bosses with lugs or projections, or recesses or grooves, as I may find preferable,
to receive corresponding projections or recesses formed upon rings or plates, which I
bolt or otherwise firmly secure on to the bodies of the wheels.
To compensate any expansion of the wheel tyre by reason of the use of the
brakes or otherwise, I may place between the bearing surfaces of the boss and the
inner end bearings of the body of the wheel a piece or packing of india-rubber or
other elastic material, which will expand as the pressure of the tyre upon the body
decreases by reason of its heating and expanding, and will contract as the tyre
cools and also contracts; and I may make the bolt holes oval to accommodate the
same.

page_text: 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
14th Decomber 1878.
RICHARD CHRISTOPHER MANSELL, of Ashford, in the County of Kent, Gontleman.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS TO BE USED ON RAILWAYS AND
TRAMWAYS."
My Invention relates to certain now and improved forms of wheel bosses and
arrangements in the construction of wheel centres, whereby they shall be so
connected as to remove the existing liability of wheel bosses becoming loose and
revolving within the bodies of wheels, and thus prevent the mischief and accidents
which result therefrom.
In making these improvements to disc-bodied wheels I make slots or slot holes in
the cheeks of their bosses, and prepare corresponding grooves, slots, or passage ways
through the timber or other inaterial forming their bodies, so that I inay pass flat
keys or driving plates across from side to side through the bodies of the wheels and
the cheeks of the bosses.
This construction of wheel is illustrated by Figures 1 to 10 inclusive of the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
Figure 1 represents the inner face of one of my improved bosses for disc-bodied
wheels having slot holes S, S, S, S, made through its cheeks; and Figure 2 represents
the same in cross section, and shews the position of the keys or driving plates at
K, K, when they are passed through and fixed in the cheeks of the boss and the
slots or passage ways formed in the body of the wheel.
Figure 3 shews the same improvement applied to a boss with its cheeks of a
circular form, and Figure 4 applied to a boss with the projections of its checks
extended to admit of an enlarged radius for the position of the slot holes, and in
this as well as in other cases the projections of the checks may be taken into a
notch in the tyre-retaining ring made to fit the same; and each projection may.
have a couple of keys or driving plates applied to it if considered desirable.
I prefer inaking the keys or driving plates of metal, but they may be made of
any other suitable material; and they can be secured in their places by a head on
one side and rivetting over on the other side, or by being rivetted over on both
sides; or I make the keys or driving plates with projecting bolt or lug ends on
their edges, as shown in flat elevation by Figures 5 and 6, and in edge elevation by
Figures 7 and 8; the bolt or lug ends on the edges of these pass through holes, or
fit into grooves formed in the cheeks of the boss to receive them; and when their
bolt and lug ends pass through the cheeks of the boss their bolt ends may be
screwed and nutted and their lug ends rivetted over, or they need not pass through
but merely enter into holes or grooves made in the inner sides of the cheeks of the
boss, and in the latter case the bolt or lug ends should have some lateral play and
not touch the bottom of the holes or grooves; but in thickness they should fit the
diameter of the holes or the width of the grooves that are made in the checks of
the boss to receive thein; and as regards the length of the keys or driving plates
they may be taken radially in the body of the wheel to any extent that may be
considered desirable.
And another method is by making the keys or driving plates with a boss, having
a hole through each sufficiently large to receive the usual bolts which pass through
the cheeks of the boss and the body of the wheel, as shewn in edge or side elevation
by Figure 9; or by making flat keys or driving plates thick enough to receive the
bolts just named, as shewn in edge elevation by Figure 10; or they may be made of
flat bars or other sections of metal, which may or may not pass into the cheeks of
the boss, or into radial grooves made therein; but when the edges or sides of the
keys or driving plates do not pass into grooves in the cheeks of the boss, then their
inner ends should pass into the radial grooves formed across its bearing surface;

page_text: but when their edges or sides do pass into grooves in the cheeks of the boss, they
may or they may not also pass into the radial grooves previously named.
Figure 11 represents the inner face of a circular boss, with one modification of;
the latter arrangement having grooves g, g, g, g, both in its cheeks and across the
circumference of its bearing surface to receive the edges and the inner end of each i
key or driving plate; and Figure 12 represents the inner face of a boss without
any groove in its cheeks, and having only the radial grooves 9, 9, J, J, across its
bearing surface to receive the inner ends of the keys or driving plates, and when I
use wide keys or driving plates and pass them within the cheeks of the boss, I
make them a little narrower than the body of the wheel, or than the distance across 1
between the grooves on the opposite cheeks of the boss, to allow for any shrinkage.
that may take place in the thickness of the body of the wheel.
Figure 13 represents the elevation of an improved wheel, with the outer cheek of
its boss and one of its tyre-retaining rings removed, in order to shew the position
of the keys or driving plates, and Figure 14 represents a cross section of the 1
same K, K, k, h. Figure 13 represents the keys or driving plates passing from the
radial grooves in the boss onward in the body of the wheel,two of them K, K, being
shewn as taken on to the inner circumference of the tyre, and thereby socuring the
greatest amount of surface bearing, but in practice the shorter lengths, as shewn by.
the-other two at k; k, may be the most approved; and, if considered desirable, the 2
outer ends of the keys or driving plates when extended to the tyre may also enter.
into a slot or hole made in its inner circumference, and thereby prevent the tyre
from turning round on the body of the wheel in the event of it becoming loose; and
in lieu of using wide keys or driving plates, as just described, and represented by
Figure 14, I may use narrow ones by making grooves or rebates in the body of the 2
wheel suitable for receiving them, taking care that they have sufficient bearing.
surface therein, and that the grooves or holes in the bearing surface of the boss aro
made to fit the ends of the keys or driving plates, which may be of any suitable
form in section; and when I use narrow keys or driving plates at one side of.
the wheel only, I prefer placing them on that side of the boss which has a solid.
check.
And another modification is shewn by the inner face elevation of an improved
boss at Figure 15, and its cross section at Figure 16, the inner face of the cheeks of
the boss being grooved from its outer edge to receive the edges of the keys or:
driving plates. These grooves are shown by g, g, g, g, in each Figure, and they :
should be made to fit the thickness of the edges of the keys or driving plates, but
a little lateral space should be left between the width of the latter and the depth of
the grooves to allow for any shrinkage that may take place in the thickness of the
body of the wheel. Figure 20 represents the face clevation of a wheel with this
arrangement, and Figure 21 a cross section of the same, the moveable check of the 4
boss and one of its tyre-retaining rings being removed in the face elevation to shew
the position of the keys or driving plates, and this Figure represents extended pro-
jections on the cheeks of the boss to adinit of the keys or driving plates having a
good radius from the centre of the wheel. K, K, K, K, represent the keys or driving
plates within the body of the wheel, having the edges of their inner ends within
the grooves of the cheeks of the boss, and their outer ends in notches made to
receive them in the tyre-retaining ring, but the projections need not be taken so far,.
nor need the keys enter into the retaining ring.
Figures 3, 15, 16, 18, and 19 show the application of the keys or driving plates to a
circular flanged boss, but in making new wheels I prefer making the checks of their
bosses with an extended diameter at those parts where the slots or grooves are
formed, as shown by Figures 1, 4, 17, 20, and 21, and any of their koys or driving
plates may be made to enter a notch in the tyre-retaining ring, or to pass onward
between the tyre-retaining rings up to the tyre, or to enter a little way in the.
latter, as previously described, if such is considered to be desirable..
'
And another arrangement by which I attain my object is by making slots in thei
outer edges of the cheeks of the bosses of wheels, as shown by Figures 17, 18, and 19,:

page_text: and making corresponding grooves through the bodies of wheels in which I pass
keys or driving plates. This is illustrated by the face elevation of a boss at Figure 17,
and by the face elevation of an improved wheel at Figure 18, and its cross section,
Figure 19, Bin each case representing the boss with slots formed across its outer
edges, and K the keys or driving plates passing through the slots in the edges of the
boss, and radially onward within the body of the wheel, having a larger bearing
surface in the body of the wheel than in the cheeks. of the boss; and in applying
this, as well as some of the previous arrangements, to an old wheel, I prefer making
the slots or grooves only in the solid cheek of the boss, and passing the keys or
driving plates in grooves made in the thickness of the body of the wheel, and the
keys or driving plates in such cases may be secured in their places by clips or plates
fastened over their edges, or they may be made with a bolt formed on one side of
each, or have crook-leaded bolts passing over their edges through the body of the
wheel and screwed upon the other side; and when the keys or driving plates are.
made of Lor T iron, they may be secured either by wood. screws or bolts.
I may also attain. the same object by making the outer edges of the cheeks of
the bosses. with lugs, or projections, or recesses, or grooves, as I may find preferable,.
to receive corresponding projections or reces-es formed upon rings or plates which I.
bult or otherwise. firmly secure on to the bodies of wheels.
A, A, A, A, Figure 22, represent lugs or projections on the outer edge of the cir-.
cumference of the cheeks of a boss, and B, B, B, B, represent flat bars of metal
bolted or otherwise securely fixed at one or both sides of the body of a wheel
within the spaces between the lugs or projections, as shewn; or recesses may be
made.in the outer circumference of the cheeks of the boss, and a metal ring with
projections fitting those recesses may be bolted or otherwise securely fixed to the
body of the wheel; as shewn by Figure 23, R, R, R, R, representing the projections
of the metal ring which fits in the recosses of the boss; or in lieu of a ring, plates.
of metal, as shewn by P, P, at Figure 24, may be curved to fit in the recesses, and
bolted or otherwise securely fixed to the body of the wheel.
And another modification is shewn at Figure 25, P, P, P, P, representing short
plates of metal securely.fixed to one or both sides of the body of a wheel, and
having projections fitting into the recesses in the outer edge of the boss, and I
prefer making these plates, with one or more ribs across their inside bearing, so that
their ribs shall pass into. grooves made in the body of the wheel, and thus act as.
; driving plates. And another arrangement is shewn at Figure 26, P, P, p, p, repre-
senting straight plates of metal secured radially to one or both sides of the body of
a.wlicel, with one end. of each fitting in the grooves or recesses in the outer edge of
the boss, and the other. end taken onward to the tyre-retaining ring, as at P, P, or:
into a notch in the inner circumference of the latter, as at p, p; these plates may be
cither flat or of an L or T form in section, but when the L or T section is used,"
one of their ribs or sides must pass into a groove or rebate, formed, radially in the
side of the body of the wheel to receive and fit the same, and when either of the.
latter sections is used, it is not necessary to extend them more than a few inches
beyond the outer edge of the boss.
And another modification is shewn by Figure 27, wliere a ring of metal is
secured to one or both sides. of the body of a wheel, and keys or driving plates aro
passed through the slots in the outer edges of the boss, the body of the wheel and
the inner circumference of the ring R representing the ring of metal, and¸K, K, K,K,
the keys or driving plates.
•
My improved bosses for wheels. in each case may be made of the usual materials,
wrought iron, cast iron, steel, or other suitable material, and the form of their.
bearing surface may be polygonal, same as used by me in the years 1849 and 1850,
or they may be circular, and when it is considered desirable to enlarge the diameter
of their bearing surface, beyond that now generally used and shewn by the accom-
panying Drawings, that, can readily be done, by making their section, like, unto
Figure 28, and in this Figure I have shewn the solid cheek of the boss thickened,
at that part through which the keys or driving plates pass, and represented the.

page_text: latter applied only from one side of the boss; and to prevent a moveable cheek from
turning round on its boss I make one or more projections on its inner face, as shewn
in cross section by Figure 29, P, P, P, representing the cheek projections which will
enter and fit into recesses formed about three-eighths of an inch in the outer side
of the bearing surface of the boss, on which the body of the wheel rests; or I make
one or more lugs on the inner circumference of each moveable cheek, as shewn by
L, L, L, L, at Figure 30, which lugs enter into corresponding recesses made in that
end of the boss which projects beyond the bearing surface of the body of the wheel;
or I make one or more recesses across the inner circumference of the moveable collar,
as shewn by R, R, R, R, at Figure 31, and form projections on the boss which will
fit and enter those recesses; or I make one or more flat sides on the projecting end
of the body of the boss, and make the hole or inner circumfereneo of the inoveable
cheek to fit the same, as shewn by the face elevation of a moveable cheek at Figure
32, having in this case two flat sides shewn thereon.
To compensate any expansion of the wheel tyre by reason of the use of the brakes
or otherwise, I may place between the bearing surfaces of the boss and the inner
end bearings of the body of the wheel a piece or packing of india-rubber or other
elastic material which will expand as the pressure of the tyre upon the body
decreases by reason of its heating and expanding, and will contract as the tyre
cools and also contracts, and I may make the bolt holes oval to accommodate the
Baie.
•
Various other modifications of my said Invention might be given, and the keys
or driving plates may be used on one side of the wheel only, or on both sides, but
- I consider the modes above described are sufficient to illustrate and make clear its
peculiar character and advantages, and it will be seen that the use of these improved
bosses and keys or driving plates in the construction of wheels for railways and
tramways, as herein-before described, and illustrated by the Drawings, will prevent
the failures and destruction which now take place in the centres of disc-bodied
wheels, and thereby render them more serviceable and safe.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature and object of my
said Invention, and in what manner the saine is or may be performed and carried
into practical effect, I desire it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the
shape or dimensions of any key or driving plate, slot, hole, groove, lug, or projection,
as their shape and dimensions may be varied without departing from my said
Invention, nor do I confine myself to the number of the keys or driving plates,
slots, holes, grooves, lugs, or projections to be used in any wheel, as they may be
varied while retaining the same principles of construction, but what I claim as new
and as secured to me by the hercin-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
Firstly. Forming the bosses of wheels with one or more slots or holes in one or
both of their cheeks, so as to admit of keys or driving plates being used in com-
bination with them and the bodies of wheels, substantially as herein-before de-
scribed, and illustrated by Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings.
Secondly. Forming the bosses of wheels with one or more grooves in each, so as
to admit of keys or driving plates being used in combination with them and the 4
bodies of wheels, substantially as hercin-before described, and illustrated by Figures
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, and 21 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
Thirdly. Forming the bosses of wheels with a slot or slots in the outer edge or
circumference of one or both of their checks, so as to admit keys or driving plates
being used therein, in combination with them and the bodies of wheels, substantially
as herein-before described, and illustrated by Figures 17, 18, and 19 of the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings.
Fourthly. Forming the bosses of wheels with lugs or projections on or recesses in
the outer edge or circumference of one or both of the cheeks of their bosses, so as to
be used in combination with plates or rings of metal, substantially as herein-before t
described, and illustrated by Figures 22, 23, 24, 25, and 20 of the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings.

page_text: Fifthly. In combination with a boss having slots, grooves, or recesses in the
outer edge of one or both of its cheeks, the use of plates of metal entering those
slots, grooves, or recesses, and secured to the body of the wheel, substantially as
herein-before described, and illustrated by Figures 25 and 26 of the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings.
Sixthly. In combination with a boss having slots in the outer edge of one or
both of its cheeks, the use of a ring of metal with slots in its inner circumference,
combined with the boss and the body of the wheel by suitable keys or driving
plates passing through the ring, boss, and body of the wheel, substantially as herein-
before described, and illustrated by Figure 27 of the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Christopher Mansell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
PICHD
MANSELL (101