US15109A - Improvement in casting car-wheels - Google Patents

Description

N.PETERS. PHolO-LIYHDGRIPNER WASHINGTON u l.

ATENT OFFICE..

LUCIEN H. ALLEN, OF TAMAQUA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO I-IIMSELF Ann E. M. IvENs,

OF SAME PLAGE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CASTING CAR-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 15,109, dated June 10, 1856.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUoIEN H. ALLEN, of Tamaqua, in Schuylkill county and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Method of Casting Iron Vheels for RailroadCars and other Purposes; and I do hereby declare that the following` is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making part of this specication, which represents a section taken through the center of a wheel and mold in which it is cast.

Great loss has always been experienced in the casting of car-wheels where the rim is chilled for the purpose of hardening it, owing to the contraction of the rim being greater than that of the hub, and from this cause a large proportion crack in casting, and many that are turned out apparently perfect crack as soon as they are subjected to the jar ot' running upon the road. To obviate this a variety of forms have been devised, whereby the center part of the wheel is enabled to yield tothe contraction ofthe rim while the metal is pliable in the mold. In this way perfection in the casting is attained at the expense of the strength of the wheel, as to accomplish this the lines ofthe metal plates between the rim and the center must be in some direction diagonal to the plane of pressure. That plane of pressure, (in chilling the rim,) being from the circumference to the center, is equivalent to the plane of pressure when the wheel is under burden in service, when it will be from the center to the circumference. Thus it is evident a wheel of any of these forms must be madeheavier than it' the lilies of the metal disk were directly in or parallel to said plane of pressure. It has also been attempted to cool the center of the wheel by submitting it to the action of the atmosphere by producing a draft or current of air through and around the eye; but this is found to be very uncertain and for the most part inadequate, as it does not act quickly or powerfully enough to produce the desired result. Cold water has also been used in a variety of ways; but as it is converted so rapidly into steam and passes off in the form of vapor, it produces little effeet other than that of hardening the surface of the metal, which is very objectionable, as

it is more difficult to bore the eye of the Wheel to fit the axle-tree. To remedy this evIl 1s the object of my invention, which consists -1n blowing or otherwise applying steam or Its equivalent to or through the hub of the fresh cast wheel, to cause it to contract at the center, and thereby relieve the chilled rim from strain, owing to its cooling the more rapidly.

I will now proceed to describe my invention by referring to the drawing. rIhe wheelpatteru C is molded in the ordinary way In the flask A and D,whieh is suitably constructed to admit of the introduction of a` steam-pipe into the core of the hub, the pattern being removed, the ask closed with the metallic ring or chill B, forming the mold for the periphery of the wheel7 and placed in such position that the perforated nozzle E of the steam-pipe enters the center of the mold. A core which forms the eye of wheel, made with a conical hole in one end to fit the nozzle E, is then placed thereon and supported in the sand above and below in the usual Way. The molten iron is then poured into the fiask, filling the space from the core to the periphery all round, when a volume of steam, or its equivalent, is blown through the nozzle by opening the cock F, which displaces the core and impinges on the eye of the red-hot wheel, causing it to contract very rapidly, the rapidity of which may be regulated to a nicety by regulating the volu me of steam passed through the cock F, while the chill contracts the periphery. By this method the cast wheel may be made with a llat disk without fear of cracking, which form is undoubtedly capable of bearing the greatest weight with the smallest quantity of metal.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Passing a volume of steam through the eye of a cast-metal wheel while the periphery is in the chill, whereby the contraction of the wheel as it cools is equalized, in the manner substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto subscribe my name.

L. II. ALLEN.

Nifitnesses;

JOHN T. DAvIEs, SMIL. N. WILLIAMS.

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