IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY WHEELS CALLED DISC WHEELS,' FORMED FROM ONE PIECE OR MASS OF IRON OR STEEL
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Brookes, of 62, Chancery Lane, London, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF
RAILWAY WHEELS CALLED DISC WHEELS,' FORMED FROM ONE PIECE OR
MASS OF IRON OR STEEL."-A communication from abroad by Jean Baptiste
Helson, of Hautmont, in the Empire of France, Metallurgist.
Sealed the 21st May 1867, and dated the 29th November 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Brookes at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th November 1866.
I, WILLIAM BROOKES, of 62, Chancery Lane, London, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANU-
FACTURE OF RAILWAY WHEELS CALLED DISC WHEELS,' FORMED FROM ONE
PIECE OR MASS OF IRON OR STEEL," to be as follows (a communication) :-
This Invention relates to the construction and manufacture of that class
of railway wheels known as disc wheels rolled circularly each from one piece
or mass of iron or steel. The disc or web, or that portion situated between
the nave or boss and the rim of such wheels, is now rolled flat so as to

page_text: connect the said nave of the wheel to the rim by a flat metal surface or
disc.
These improvements consist in forming circular undulations or rises and
depressions on the web or disc of the said wheels so as to give elasticity to
the wheel in order to prevent the tyres from laminating or becoming elongated,
as is often the case under heavy loads, thus rendering this description of
wheel more generally applicable to railway trucks, locomotive engines, tenders,
and other vehicles, and by giving much more rigidity or stiffness to the said
wheel disc transversely enables the said wheels to be used on railway curves of
small diameter.
The manufacture of circularly rolled disc wheels as at present practised is
as follows: A suitable mass of iron or steel heated to a white heat is sub-
jected to the action of a steam hammer provided with suitable dies on the
hammer head and anvil block, to produce from the said mass of heated metal
by hammering a circular plate or roughed wheel suitable to be acted upon by
the rolls of a circular rolling mill, by which the roughed plate is rolled to its
finished size and shape.
According to this Invention the dies on the steam hammer head and anvil
block are shaped so as to form between them the figure of the roughed plate
with undulations, rises, or depressions thereupon, suitable for being operated
upon by the rolls of the circular rolling mill and the said rolls of the circular
rolling mill whether they be made with conical or parallel ends are formed
with grooved or fluted surfaces so as to produce upon the web or disc of the
wheel undulations or rises and depressions corresponding with the undulations,
rises, and depressions upon the roughed wheel or plate from the steam
hammer, and by the action of the said grooved or fluted rolls the said roughed
plate is rolled to the size and shape of the finished disc wheel with the said
undulations or rises and depressions thereupon as required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Brookes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the s
28th May 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BROOKES, of 62, Chancery Lane, London, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Brookes, Her special licence that I, the said William Brookes, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as the said William
Brookes, 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 THE CON-
STRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY WHEELS CALLED DISC WHEELS,'
FORMED FROM ONE PIECE OR MASS OF IRON OR STEEL," a communication to me
from abroad by Jean Baptiste Helson, of Hautmont, in the Empire of
France, Metallurgist, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Brookes, 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 William Brookes, do hereby 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 :-
This Invention relates to the construction and manufacture of that class of
railway wheels known as disc wheels, rolled circularly each from one piece or
mass of iron or steel. The disc or web, or that portion situated between the
nave or boss and the rim of such wheels, is now rolled flat so as to connect
the said nave of the wheel to the rim by a flat metal surface or disc.
These improvements consist in forming circular indulations or rises and
depressions on the web or disc of the said wheels so as to give elasticity to the
wheel in order to prevent the tyres from laminating or becoming elongated as
is often the case under heavy loads, thus rendering this description of wheel
more generally applicable to railway trucks, locomotive engines, tenders, and
other vehicles, and by giving much more rigidity or stiffness to the said wheel
disc transversely enables the said wheels to be used on railway curves of small
diameter.
The manufacture of circularly rolled disc wheels as at present practised is
Bs follows:-A suitable mass of iron or steel heated to a white heat is
subjected to the action of a steam hammer provided with suitable dies on the

page_text: hammer head and anvil block to produce from the said mass of heated metal
by hammering a circular plate or roughed wheel suitable to be acted upon by
the rolls of a circular rolling mill, by which the roughed plate is rolled to its
finished size and shape.
According to this Invention the dies on the steam hammer head and anvil
block are shaped so as to form between them the figure of the roughed plate
with undulations, rises, or depressions thereupon suitable for being operated
upon by the rolls of the circular rolling mill, and the said rolls of the circular
rolling mill, whether they be made with conical or parallel ends, are formed
with grooved or fluted surfaces so as to produce upon the web or disc of the
wheel undulations or rises and depressions corresponding with the undulations,
rises, and depressions upon the roughed wheel or plate from the steam
hammer, and by the action of the said grooved or fluted rolls the said roughed
plate is rolled to the size and shape of the finished disc wheel with the said
undulations or rises and depressions thereupon as required.
Having explained the nature of this Invention as communicated to me, I
will proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the
manner in which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of a portion of a steam hammer and anvil
block shewing the construction and arrangement of the dies on the hammer
head and anvil block shaped so as to form between them the roughed circular
plate with undulations or rises and depressions thereupon suitable for being
operated upon by the rolls of a circular rolling mill as herein-after described;
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same without the anvil die and block;
Figure 3 is an elevation, partly in section, of the upper die; and Figure 4 is
a plan of the same. The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.
A is the hammer head or block to which is affixed the upper die B, and C
is the lower die affixed to the anvil block. The roughed plate formed accord-
ing to this Invention between the two dies B and C is shewn in section at D,
Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a horizontal view of parts of a circular rolling mill for rolling
disc wheels, either from the roughed plate exhibited at D, Figure 1, or from
a plain circular roughed plate, as is used for rolling plain surfaced disc
wheels by means of parallel rolls constructed and shaped according to this
Invention.
A, A, are the rolls, the working surfaces of which are undulated or formed
with rises and depressions and curves upon them so as between them to roll
the web of the disc wheel to the shape represented at Figure 6, which is a

page_text: sectional view of a finished disc wheel according to this Invention; B is the
back roller for rolling and compressing the rim of the wheel; C, C, are the
roll shafts formed at D, D, to receive coupling boxes; the said shafts work in
bearings E, E; F, F, are wheels actuating the endless screws H, H, to bring
the rolls nearer together as required during the process of rolling.
Figure 7 is a horizontal view of parts of a circular rolling mill for rolling
disc wheels by means of conical rolls constructed and formed according to this
Invention.
A, A, are the working rolls, the form of which will be readily understood
from an inspection of the Drawing. The undulations or rises and depressions
upon the working surfaces of the said rolls form corresponding circular
rises and depressions upon the web of the disc wheel A¹, as shewn; B is the
back roller for rolling and compressing the rim of the disc wheel; C, C, are
the working shafts to which are affixed the rolls A, A; the ends D, D, of the
said shafts C, C, are formed to receive coupling boxes; E, E, E, E, are the
bearings of the shafts C, C, and F, F, are toothed wheels actuating the end-
less screw shaft H, H, in order to bring the rolls A, A, closer together during
the process of rolling.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, as communicated
to me, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to
be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, as the form and
extent of the undulations upon the webs of the disc wheels and rolls may be
varied without departing from the nature of the said Invention; also, I do
not claim as of this Invention the construction and arrangement of circular
rolling mills for rolling flat disc wheels and apart from the peculiarly shaped
rolls herein-before described and illustrated at A, A, Figures 5 and 7 of the
accompanying Drawings; but what I claim is,-
Firstly, the construction of railway wheels called disc wheels with circular
undulations or rises and depressions upon the webs or discs thereof sub-
stantially as described and shewn in section at Figure 6 of the accompanying
Drawings.
Secondly, the mode of forming the roughed plates to be afterwards rolled
in a circular rolling mill, as herein-before described and illustrated in
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, forming
circular undulations or rises and depressions upon the said roughed plates
by means of suitable dies on the head and anvil of a steam hammer.
Thirdly, the formation and construction of the rolls of circular rolling
mills, as herein-before described and illustrated at A, A, Figures 5 and 7 of

page_text: the accompanying Drawings, for the purposes herein-before set forth, that is to
say, forming the. working surfaces of the said rolls with undulations thereupon,
.so as to produce upon the webs of disc wheels the circular undulations
and rises and depressions exhibited. in section at Figure. 6, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Brookes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
WILLIAM BROOKES. (L.S.)