IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF AXLES, SHAFTING, METAL PLATES, AND WHEELS, FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, AND IN THE PROCESS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Moore Riddell at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st March 1881.
WILLIAM MOORE RIDDELL, of 64, Finsbury Pavement, of the City of London.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF AXLES, SHAFTING,
METAL PLATES, AND WHEELS, FOR RAILWAY AND OTHER CARRIAGES, AND IN
THE PROCESS EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
First. The Invention relates to the combined use of various qualities of iron, of
iron combined with other metals in the form of rods or bars welded or joined
together to form railway carriage or other axles, shafting for machinery, and for
many other useful purposes where great strength and durability is required.
It is generally understood that all iron is fibrous in a more or less degree, and
the result of some experiments instituted some years since, proves that this fibrous
quality varied in different kind of iron and admixtures of iron with other metals,
such as manganeso, chromium, tungsten, titanium, and the like.
It is also certain that these different combinations crystallize under different
conditions and at various periods. My improvements in the manufacture of
railway axles, and my combination metal for this and various other purposes, are
based upon these facts.
Railway axles become crystalline after long use, and this is generally understood
to be caused by the constant succession of slight jars, as experienced by all railway
travellers. Ordinary axles are made of one description of iron and in one piece,
therefore when crystallization takes place, it does so throughout the bar at the same
time, and unfortunately this cannot be discovered until the axle be broken or an
accident happens.
It has been proved in the manufacture of large guns that a combined use of
steel and iron is stronger and resists greater pressure than either metal separately,
and the fact is confirmatory to a certain extent of the valuo of my improvement.
I form my new axle of rods of various kinds of iron and steel welded together at a
low temperature, and for this purpose I prefer to use a composition extensively
applied in the United States of America, called "Schierloh's Cherry Heat Welding
Compound," which will perfectly weld steel and iron at a temperatue not exceeding

page_text: 600° or 700° Fahrenheit, and this heat is not sufficient to injure the quality of the
metal, but I do not confine myself to this composition, but may employ other
compounds which will enable me to weld the metals together at a low temperaturo.
The rods of metal forming my combination bar are first well cleaned, the welding
mixture is then applied and the mass wired together. It is then placed in a
furnace and heated to the required temperature. The ends are fixed in powerful
'grips" moving in opposite directions, worked by any convenient machinery. By
means of these "grips" the bar is given a slight twist while hot in the furnace,
after which it is removed at once either to the hammer or the rolls to be worked
into shape.
"
By the use of Schierloh's welding material, Bessemer steel is welded to Bessemer
steel in 8 minutes, blistered steel in 8 minutes, fine cast steel in 6 minutes, wrought
iron in 6 minutes, cast iron in 3 minutes, chrome steel and malleable cast iron
in about 3 minutes; and the weld is so perfect that when the bar is planed off,
the weld can only be discovered by the difference in colour of the various metals.
The metal composing my compound bars will not crystallize throughout, and the
fibres being interlaced the strength is greatly increased. In solid axles a flaw may.
run through the metal, and only be discovered when an accident occurs. In my
axle it is quite impossible that a flaw can exist through all the various rods.
The compound metal thus manufactured may be used with great advantage for
all kinds and description of metal shafting, especially for locomotives, marine
engines, screw shafts, crank shafts, and the like, also in the construction of ships,
bridges, and buildings, together with a variety of other purposes where strongth
and stability are required. The same principle of combining metals is available
for use in the construction of boiler plates, armour plates for ships of war, and for
other purposes of a like nature.
Secondly. The Invention relates to the manufacture and construction of railway
and other carriage wheels formed of a series of plates or sheets of various qualities
of iron and steel bolted or welded together, or by alternate plates of metal and
paper boards bolted together.
Railway carriage wheels are liable to a variety of accidents, amongst others to
splitting open, the tyre bursting, breaking, or coming off.
My novel construction of wheel is composed of a series of plates of different
metals bolted or welded together, the flange being composed of two or more plates;
or they may be constructed of alternate plates of metal and compressed paper boards
bolted together, and they would by this means be very considerably lighter.
Wheels made on this principle could not break or split open; there are no separate
tyres to burst or come off, and the chance of breakage would be reduced to a
minimum..
The paper board I prefer to use is composed of good fibrous material such as
rope-yarn, afterwards chemically rendered non-inflammable, so that the action of
the "break" would not injure them, and submitted to heavy hydraulic pressure.
In this state paper boards may be sawn, cut, planod, or bored, the same as wood.