IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR TRAMWAYS, RAILWAYS, CONTRACTOR'S AND OTHER CARRIAGES, WAGGONS, or OTHER. VEHICLES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George James Cross, of Greenwich, in the County
of Kent, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR
TRAMWAYS, RAILWAYS, CONTRACTOR'S AND OTHER CARRIAGES, WAGGONS, or
OTHER. VEHICLES."
Sealed the 20th June 1873, and dated the 27th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George James Cross at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th December 1872.
I, GEORGE JAMES CROSS, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent,
Eugincer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN WHEELS FOR TRAMWAYS, RAILWAYS, CONTRACTOR'S AND OTHER
CARRIAGES, WAGGONS, OR OTHER-VEHIOLES," to be as follows :-
My Invention consists in forming wheels for tramways and railway
carriages, and vehicles generally in the following manner:-I form the
tyre of the wheels in segments, and I attach the same to the circum-

page_text: ference or felloe of the wheels by screws or bolts; the screw or bolt heads
are countersunk or by preference encased in the metal forming the
segments; when being cast they are passed through the circumference or
felloe and secured by nuts, cotters, or otherwise on the inside of the
felloe; by these means the segments of the tyre can be attached to the
felloe of the wheel and detached with facility when required, so that
when the segments of the tyre are worn they can be easily removed and
replaced by new segments, and thus an old or worn wheel is with
facility repaired.
By the Invention I am able to make the body of the wheel, viz., the
boss, spokes, and circumference of cast iron, steel, or wrought iron,
while the segments forming the tyre are preferably made of the iron
mixture described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me the
Second of February 1872, No. 337, or of "cold blast," or of cast steel, or
wrought iron of special hardness or of any other suitable metal.
In order to insure the segments keeping in position on the felloe of
the wheel I form the said felloe of a shape, (angular or A shape for
example) to correspond with the shape of the under side of the segment
so that one may fit into the other, and for further security I form the
ends of one segment with projections to enter into or to dovetail into
recesses on the other; and further, I sometimes have a small flange or
lug formed on the sides of the segments to fit over and to rest against
the sides of the circumference of the wheel; I place packing between the
segments and the felloes.
When the segments are made of metal containing "cold blast" or
"white iron," according to my Inventions as aforesaid, the necessary
chill is more easily obtained than when the whole wheel is made of the
same material, and of course with less liability to crack as there is no
contraction to contend with.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George James Cross in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
JAMES CROSS, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Engineer, send
greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George James Cross, Her special.
licence that I, the said George James Cross, my executors, adminis-.
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George James Cross,
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 TRAMWAYS, RAILWAYS, CONTRACTOR'S AND OTHER CARRIAGES,
WAGGONS, OR OTHER VEHICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said George James Cross, my executors or administrators, 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 George James Cross, 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 accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to
say :-
:-
According to my Invention I form the tyres of wheels in segments,
'

page_text: or bolts secured to the inside circumference or felloe by nuts or other-
wise.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view in side elevation of
a wheel constructed according to my Invention. Figure 2 is a section
through the line A, B, of Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a side clevation; Figure 4
is an end elevation; and Figure 5 is a plan of one of the segments
detached; and Figure 6 is a section of a segment shewing it made with
flanges to fit over the felloes.
a, a, are the segments all arranged round and secured to the felloe of
the wheel; b, b, are screw threaded bolts inserted in the segments; these -
bolts are preferably inserted in the mould in which the segments are cast,
and the metal of which the segments are formed is run into the moulds
and around the bolts so that the said bolts become imbedded in the
segments and form as it were a portion thereof, with the other or screw-
threaded ends of the bolts projecting as shewn at Figs. 3 and 4.
shews the V shaped portion of the under side of the segments, and d
shews the corresponding V shaped part on the felloe of the wheel, the
one portion on the segment c fitting on to the other portion d on the
felloe, as shewn at Fig. 2; e is a projection on one end, and e¹ is a recess
on the opposite end of each segment which enter or dovetail into corre-
sponding recesses and projections in the adjoining segment.
Sometimes for greater security I form a small flange or lug on the
sides of the segments, as shewn at g, Fig. 6, to fit over and to rest
against the sides of the circumference of the felloe of the wheel; f.f,
are nuts for securing the segments to the felloe after the bolts have been
passed through the said felloc. I place packing between the felloe and
the segments. To put the wheel together one segment after the other is
laid on the felloe with the bolts passing through the same, and the nuts
are screwed up tightly against the inside of the felloe, or instead of nuts
cotters or other means of securing the bolts may be used.
By my Invention I am able to make the body of the wheel, viz., the
boss of cast iron, spokes of ¾ tubing of pipes, or of × cross section iron,
and the circumference of cast iron, steel, or wrought iron, while the
segments forming the tyre are made of steel or of a superior metal, and
preferably of a metal as thereafter described. In this manner I am
enabled to make the segments alone with that chill or hardness which is

page_text: such an essential feature in tramway wheels, and has heretofore been so
difficult to obtain when the whole wheel has to be made of one metal
and in one casting whereas by my Invention the necessary chill or
hardness is easily obtained in the segments, and there is less liability to
crack because there is no contraction to contend against.
By my Invention the segments of the tyre can be attached to the.
felloe of the wheel, and detached with facility when required, so that
when a segment or segments of the tyre is or are worn it or they can be
easily removed and replaced by new segments, and thus an old or worn
wheel is with facility repaired.
The segments may be made of any suitable metal but I prefer to make
them and tramway wheel tyres generally of a combination of cold blast
pig metal iron, and soft pig or soft scrap cast iron, or other soft pig iron
smelted together and run into an ordinary chill box; or I use a metal as
described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me 2 February
1872, No. 337, or I use a metal composed of cast iron and steel mixed,
known as "Prussian metal," or I make the segments of steel rolled to
section, then cut into proper lengths, and subsequently circled by
hydraulic pressure; countersunk headed bolts are passed right through
the segments and secured in the manner before described, or the steel
segments may be cast in moulds; but as I have before stated I do not
limit myself to any particular class of metal for making the segments as
aforesaid, although I give the preference to one or other of the metals
before named.
The wheels made according to my Invention are applicable to wheels
for tramways, railways, mines, collieries above or under ground, con-
tractor's and other carriages, waggons, or other vehicles.
Figs. 7 and 8 shew a wheel of somewhat modified form and having
four segmental pieces instead of eight as in the previous arrangement
described.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,—
First. The construction of wheels for tramways, railways, contractor's
and other carriages, waggons, or other vehicles wherein the tyres are
made in segments or in segmental pieces, and attached to the felloe or

page_text: GEORGE JAMES CROSS. (L.S.)