Wheel and axle

“ You see this wheel, which is not very large, turns round an axle which goes into it, and is much smaller; and at every turn, the rope to which the weight is fixed that you want to move, is twisted round the axle. ”

“ In the center of the wheel, drill a hole smaller than the axle so as to make a tight fit. Be very careful to bore this hole straight. Force the axle thru the wheel, and if the wheel wobbles only slightly drive wooden wedges beside the axle to force it square with the wheel. If it wobbles too much, plug the hole and try boring again. Resting the axle on the jaws of the vise, revolve the wheel rapidly to see where it is out of true, and patiently pare it down. The flat side of the wheel which wobbles only a little can be planed off. ”

“ Put some glue on touching surface, and clinch the three together with pins or wire brads. The place where these nails go is shown by the spots on side draught of the wheel. The axle-tree is made of oak, and at the extremities a piece of stout wire is inserted, which extends one-eighth of an inch beyond the wood of the axle-tree. The hardest axle-tree is one made from the shafts of an old clock. Take particular care that the wheels run very true, as the success of the machine depends to a great extent upon this.
From the lower extremity of the balancing-rod hangs a weight. ”

“ The wheels can be rigidly fixed to the axle—that is, a match end is pushed tight into the cardboard wheel and the axle is free to turn in loose bearings, as in Fig. 4, fixed under the cart or other vehicle or to the sides. ”

“ Let us admit that the toothed wheels of which we have spoken are so arranged as not to touch the sides of the box, but that their axles project externally and are squared so as to receive indexes. In this way the wheel, in revolving, will cause its axle with its index to turn, and the latter will describe upon the exterior a circle that we shall divide into a number of parts equal to that of the teeth of the interior wheel. ”

“ The power is transmitted from one of the pulleys by a rubber belt to an intermediate shaft, which carries a toothed wheel that transmits the power to the axle by means of an endless chain. On this axle are three conical gear wheels, two of which are furnished with hooked teeth, and the third with wooden projections and fixed permanently in place. ”

“ The wheel at the other end of the axle is connected with a large horizontal wheel, or 'gin,' to which a pair of oxen may be yoked. These animals, walking round and round, turn the large wheel, which, by means of cogs, turns the wheel upon the nearer end of the axle, and so turns the wheel bearing the pots. The machinery is very rough, and squeaks and groans in the loudest manner when it is at work ”

“ The front wheels, d, d, are hung to the front axle, E, so that the center of each wheel base is in a line coincident with the axis of the pivotal connection which is provided between the journals for the wheels and the axle, which arrangement practically destroys any tendency to deflection from the course that might otherwise arise from striking an obstacle, and so renders the steering easier. ”

“ Make the axle of hard wood. Push it thru the axle blocks and wheel, and lock it to the wheel with a brad, Plate 19. The axle is made long so that a pulley (spool) can be put on and a belt (string) run from this to other pulleys. A leather washer outside each axle block keeps the wheel in the center. If the work has been carefully done, the paddles will not strike; if they do strike, they must be pared off.
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[Pg 67] ”

“ Some ingenious persons have deduced from the foregoing that a wheel runs best on an axle having a conical arm (the arm is the extremity of the axle which fits into an axle-box in the nave or stock of the wheel) , in which case the axle would not dip, but the wheel would be put on to a perfectly horizontal axle. The motion of a wheel thus placed would be anything but artistic, though there would not be so much friction on an arm of this sort as on an arm of the dipped axle. ”

“ The wheels themselves cannot be made by the young experimenter unless he has a lathe. They are flanged wheels, one and one-eighth inches in diameter, and are turned from cast iron or brass. Such wheels can be purchased ready made, or it may be possible to obtain from some broken toy a set which will prove suitable.
Fig. 265.—Details of the Bearing which supports the Wheel and Axle. Each shaft is composed of two pieces of "Bessemer" rod held together by a short piece of fiber rod having a hole in each end into which one end of each piece of iron rod is driven. ”

“ Let A B and D C, fig. 179., be two wheels revolving on pivots P Q with as little friction as possible, and so placed that the axle O of a third wheel E F may rest between their edges. As the wheel E F revolves, the axle O, instead of grinding its surface on the surface on which it presses, carries that surface with it, causing the wheels A B, C D, to revolve.
In wheel carriages, the roughness of the road is more easily overcome by large wheels than by small ones. ”

“ In cranes it is usual to provide means of adding a second train of wheels, when the load is very heavy. In another model we applied the power to an axle with a pinion of 25 teeth, gearing into a wheel of 200 teeth; on the axle of the wheel with 200 teeth is a pinion of 30 teeth, which gears into a wheel of 180 teeth; the barrel is on the axle of the last wheel. ”

“ Firmly fixed to the extremities of the axle, and at right angles to it, are the two 'carriers'— (two strong irons extending each way to the felloes of the wheels.) These irons may be bolted to the felloes of the wheels or not, or to the felloes of one wheel only. Thus the power applied to the axle is carried at once to the parts of the wheels of least stress—the circumferences. By this artifice the wheels are required to be of no greater strength and weight than ordinary carriage-wheels; and, like them, they turn freely and independently on the axle ”

“ An axle is technically divided into three parts—the two arms, or extremities, on which the wheel revolves, and the bed, or that portion which connects the two arms together. The commonest axles, which are manufactured for the sake of greater cheapness, are formed of a square bar simply rolled [71] to shape between mill rollers. This iron is uncertain in its quality, as it is liable to have sand cracks, blisters, and other imperfections, which cause axletrees when made from it to break down under strong concussion. ”

“ When the cars have been completed, cut six sticks 5 inches long, whittle them down until they are about 3/16 inch in diameter, and sandpaper them until they are perfectly round and smooth. These sticks connect the rims of the wheel and form
The Axles from which the cars are hung (Fig. 159) . Great care must be used in fastening them between the rims, for they are easily split, and the best way to do is to start a hole first in the ends of each axle with an awl or by driving a brad part way in and then withdrawing it; then drive a brad through each spoke of one rim into an axle (Fig. 157) ”

“ At each side of the spur gear are placed bevel gears, meshing into the bevel pinions, one of which is keyed fast to the shaft or axle, while the other is firmly bolted to small pinion that drives the traction wheel, or to hub of the traction wheel, which also runs loosely on its axle. ”

“ There are always a number of discarded carriages, wagons or parts thereof in the rear of the average blacksmith's shop. Sometimes for half a dollar, and often for nothing, you can get a wheel, an axle, and connected parts. Remove from the wheel, all but the four spokes needed for the fans as in Fig. 1. The same hub, axle and bearings will do. In case you cannot secure a wheel and shaft, the hub may be made from a piece of hardwood, about 4 in. in diameter and 6 in. long. A 2-in. hole should be bored through for a wooden shaft, or a 1-1/2-in. hole for a metal shaft. ”

“ A rounded bearing two inches wide is cut in the axle beyond the spokes so as to correspond with the other end, and beyond this the axle is left square. Bearings for this wheel are made in the edge of a stout plank notched as shown at B, and held in place by iron straps as also depicted at B. Long screws or screw-bolts, commonly known as lag-screws, will hold the strap in place, and from the square end of the shaft the connection is made for power. ”

“ Undoubtedly the friction is increased by this arrangement, because a wheel on a horizontal axle runs easiest and smoothest; and when the axle-arm is slanted downwards towards the point the wheel has a tendency to bind harder against the shoulder which butts against the nave of the wheel, and the friction between the two is greater than would be the case if the axle-arm were perfectly horizontal. ”

“ Bore a hole in the end of the axle, exactly in the center, using a drill slightly smaller than the screw that is to hold the wheels in position. Bore a hole in each wheel, at the center point, a little larger than the screw that is to be used. ”

“ The practice with these wheels is to bore them parallel, finishing with a feed of 1⁄4 inch per lathe revolution, and to turn the axle seats taper just discernible by calipers.
This may, at first sight, seem strange, but examination makes it reasonable and plain. Let a wheel having a parallel bore be forced upon a parallel axle, and then forced off again, and the bore of the wheel will be found taper to an appreciable amount, but increasing in proportion as the surface of the hole varied from a dead smoothness ”

“ The last thing to do is to saw out four wheels 1⁄4 inch thick and 23⁄4 inches in diameter; drill a 1⁄8 inch hole in the exact center of each wheel and screw it on the end of the axle with a 1 inch long, round head, [231] wood screw. ”

“ After the rope leaves the said sheave, it is coiled away at pleasure. g, g, are two change wheels, for varying the speed of the grooved wheel d, d, to answer the various sizes of ropes; h, is a spiral wheel, driven by the screw k, fixed upon the axle l; m, is a band-wheel, which is driven by a belt from the shaft of the engine, or any other communicating power; n, n, is a friction strap and striking clutch. The axle q, is driven by two change wheels p, p; by changing the sizes of those wheels, the different speeds of the drum R, R, for any sizes of ropes, are at once effected. ”

“ There is a small grooved wheel on the axle of the fan outside, and an endless line, like a clothes-line, is carried over this wheel and a groove in the edge of a high light wooden driving-wheel rigged between two uprights in the rear and with a handle to turn. ”

“ The necessity for such mechan ism has been avoided by making the wheel axle also the treadle axle; but great instability is the result.
Machines in which the arms instead of the legs supply the power are maile, and are of immense service to those who have lost the use of their legs. ”