GB368635A - Improvements relating to wheel axles - Google Patents

Abstract

368,635. Roller bearings. TAYLOR, G. W., 11, Sessions Street, Wellesley, Massachusetts, U.S.A. June 26, 1931, No. 18508. [Class 12 (i).] The wheels 20 of a railway &c. vehicle are adapted for independent rotation by securing them to the halves 15 of a divided axle casing, each half 15 being mounted by means of roller bearings on a shaft 1 which is preferably constituted by the original rotatable axle of the vehicle and is supported at its ends in journal boxes 37. As shown in Fig. 2 the original axle may be converted by forming at its centre a cylindrical part 2 of reduced diameter adjacent to tapering portions 1 that terminate in shoulders 8, by increasing the width of the portions 9 on which the original wheels were secured, and by forming grooves 11 adjacent to the bearing surfaces 12. Each part 15 of the casing is increased in diameter at both ends to provide recesses in which the bearings 17, 22 are accommodated, the inner bearings 17 abutting against a shoulder 7 formed in a split ring 4 surrounding the cylindrical part 2 of the axle 1, while the outer bearings 22 abut against securing rings located in the grooves 11 and constituted by two half-rings 35 united by bolts 36. A dust cap or ring 32 excludes dirt &c. from the bearings 17, while cover-plates 27 perform the same function for the bearings 22. Normally the axle 1 is relatively fixed, but should any breakage or jamming between the axle and one half-casing occur, then the axle will rotate in its bearings 37 with this half-casing, while the other half-casing will still be permitted its independent rotation.